Formatting a DateTime Object in C#

In this post I have listed the different formatting options provided by .NET for a DateTime object.

The examples shown below are based on the following DateTime object:

// 18 September 2009 20:10:35 
DateTime dt = new DateTime(2009, 09, 18, 20, 10, 35, 123); 

Format specifier	Description	Result
dt.ToString();	To String	18/09/2009 20:10:35
dt.ToString("d"); dt.ToShortDateString();	Short date pattern.	18/09/2009
dt.ToString("D"); dt.ToLongDateString();	Long date pattern.	18 September 2009
dt.ToString("f");	Full date/time pattern (short time).	18 September 2009 20:10
dt.ToString("F");	Full date/time pattern (long time).	18 September 2009 20:10:35
dt.ToString("g");	General date/time pattern (short time).	18/09/2009 20:10
dt.ToString("G");	General date/time pattern (long time).	18/09/2009 20:10:35
dt.ToString("m"); dt.ToString("M");	Month/day pattern.	18 September
dt.ToString("o"); dt.ToString("O");	Round-trip date/time pattern.	2009-09-18T20:10:35.1230000
dt.ToString("r"); dt.ToString("R");	RFC1123 pattern.	Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:10:35 GMT
dt.ToString("s");	Sortable date/time pattern.	2009-09-18T20:10:35
dt.ToString("t"); dt.ToShortTimeString();	Short time pattern.	20:10
dt.ToString("T"); dt.ToLongTimeString();	Long time pattern.	20:10:35
dt.ToString("u");	Universal sortable date/time pattern.	2009-09-18 20:10:35Z
dt.ToString("U");	Universal full date/time pattern.	18 September 2009 18:10:35
dt.ToString("y"); dt.ToString("Y");	Year month pattern.	September 2009
dt.ToBinary();	64-bit binary representation	633889014351230000
dt.ToFileTime();	Windows file time	128977710351230000
dt.ToFileTimeUtc();	Windows UTC file time	128977782351230000
dt.ToLocalTime();	Local time representation	18/09/2009 22:10:35
dt.ToOADate();	Equivalent OLE Automation date	40074.840684294
dt.ToUniversalTime();	Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)	18/09/2009 18:10:35

All the above examples which are using a format specifier character in the ToString() method can also be written using the string.Format() method. For example:

dt.ToString("U");

can be written as

string.Format("{0:U}", dt);

Although .NET supports a large number of predefined formats as shown above, it also allows you to create your own custom formats as we will see next.

The examples shown below are based on the following DateTime object:

// 03 September 2009 14:08:05
DateTime dt = new DateTime(2009, 09, 3, 14, 8, 5, 123);

Format specifier	Description	Result
string.Format("{0:d}", dt);	The day of the month, from 1 through 31.	3
string.Format("{0:dd}", dt);	The day of the month, from 1 through 31.	03
string.Format("{0:ddd}", dt);	The abbreviated name of the day of the week.	Thu
string.Format("{0:dddd}", dt);	The full name of the day of the week.	Thursday
string.Format("{0:f}", dt);	The tenths of a second in a date and time value.	1
string.Format("{0:ff}", dt);	The hundredths of a second in a date and time value.	12
string.Format("{0:fff}", dt);	The milliseconds in a date and time value.	123
string.Format("{0:ffff}", dt);	The ten thousandths of a second in a date and time value.	1230
string.Format("{0:fffff}", dt);	The hundred thousandths of a second in a date and time value.	12300
string.Format("{0:ffffff}", dt);	The millionths of a second in a date and time value.	123000
string.Format("{0:fffffff}", dt);	The ten millionths of a second in a date and time value.	1230000
string.Format("{0:F}", dt);	If non-zero, the tenths of a second in a date and time value.	1
string.Format("{0:FF}", dt);	If non-zero, the hundredths of a second in a date and time value.	12
string.Format("{0:FFF}", dt);	If non-zero, the milliseconds in a date and time value.	123
string.Format("{0:FFFF}", dt);	If non-zero, the ten thousandths of a second in a date and time value.	123
string.Format("{0:FFFFF}", dt);	If non-zero, the hundred thousandths of a second in a date and time value.	123
string.Format("{0:FFFFFF}", dt);	If non-zero, the millionths of a second in a date and time value.	123
string.Format("{0:FFFFFFF}", dt);	If non-zero, the ten millionths of a second in a date and time value.	123
string.Format("{0:g}", dt); string.Format("{0:gg}", dt);	The period or era.	A.D.
string.Format("{0:h}", dt);	The hour, using a 12-hour clock from 0 to 11.	2
string.Format("{0:hh}", dt);	The hour, using a 12-hour clock from 00 to 11.	02
string.Format("{0:H}", dt);	The hour, using a 24-hour clock from 0 to 23.	14
string.Format("{0:HH}", dt);	The hour, using a 24-hour clock from 00 to 23.	14
string.Format("{0:m}", dt);	The minute, from 0 through 59.	8
string.Format("{0:mm}", dt);	The minute, from 00 through 59.	08
string.Format("{0:M}", dt);	The month, from 1 through 12.	9
string.Format("{0:MM}", dt);	The month, from 01 through 12.	09
string.Format("{0:MMM}", dt);	The abbreviated name of the month.	Sep
string.Format("{0:MMMM}", dt);	The full name of the month.	September
string.Format("{0:s}", dt);	The second, from 0 through 59.	5
string.Format("{0:ss}", dt);	The second, from 00 through 59.	05
string.Format("{0:t}", dt);	The first character of the AM/PM designator.	P
string.Format("{0:tt}", dt);	The AM/PM designator.	PM
string.Format("{0:y}", dt);	The year, from 0 to 99.	9
string.Format("{0:yy}", dt);	The year, from 00 to 99.	09
string.Format("{0:yyy}", dt);	The year, with a minimum of three digits.	2009
string.Format("{0:yyyy}", dt);	The year as a four-digit number.	2009
string.Format("{0:yyyyy}", dt);	The year as a five-digit number.	02009
string.Format("{0:z}", dt);	Hours offset from UTC, with no leading zeros.	+2
string.Format("{0:zz}", dt);	Hours offset from UTC, with a leading zero for a single-digit value.	+02
string.Format("{0:zzz}", dt);	Hours and minutes offset from UTC.	+02:00

Happy formatting. 🙂
Dave