C# DateTimeOffset Formatting Quick Reference

13 Jan 2020 - Cody Merritt Anhorn

This post is a quick reference for the DateTime/DateTimeOffset formatting. Using the .ToString you can pass in a string, using the below “Format” text, you can get example text below. You can mix and match the formats and create your own custom formatted dates.

Using Try .Net take the below Code For Reference to see and play with your self the text.

Example Date

Year	Month	Day	Hour	Minute	Second	Millisecond	Offset
2011	6	10	15	24	16	213	+6

Example Formatted Date

Format		Formatted
%d		10
dd		10
ddd		Fri
dddd		Friday
%h		3
hh		03
%H		15
HH		15
%m		24
mm		24
%M		24
MM		06
MMM		Jun
MMMM		June
%s		16
ss		16
%t		P
tt		PM
%y		11
yy		11
yyy		2011
yyyy		2011
%K		+06:00
%z		+6
zz		+06
zzz		+06:00
%f		2
ff		21
fff		213
ffff		2130
fffff		21300
ffffff		213000
fffffff		2130000

Code For Reference

DateTimeOffset exampleDate = new DateTimeOffset(
    2011,
    6,
    10,
    15,
    24,
    16,
    213,
    TimeSpan.FromHours(6)
); 

var formatString = "MM.dd-yyyy h:m:ss zzz";
var formatted = exampleDate.ToString(
    formatString
);
Console.WriteLine($"{formatString} >> {formatted}");

Code Used to Generate Table

DateTimeOffset exampleDate = new DateTimeOffset(
    2011,
    6,
    10,
    15,
    24,
    16,
    213,
    TimeSpan.FromHours(6)
);

var formatters = new string[] {
    "%d",
    "dd",
    "ddd",
    "dddd",
    "%h",
    "hh",
    "%H",
    "HH",
    "%m",
    "mm",
    "%M",
    "MM",
    "MMM",
    "MMMM",
    "%s",
    "ss",
    "%t",
    "tt",
    "%y",
    "yy",
    "yyy",
    "yyyy",
    "%K",
    "%z",
    "zz",
    "zzz",
    "%f",
    "ff",
    "fff",
    "ffff",
    "fffff",
    "ffffff",
    "fffffff"
};

Console.WriteLine("| Year | Month | Day | Hour | Minute | Second | Millisecond | Offset |");
Console.WriteLine("|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|");
Console.WriteLine("| 2011 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 24 | 16 | 213 | +6 |");

Console.WriteLine();

Console.WriteLine("| Format | | Formatted |");
Console.WriteLine("|---|---|---|");

foreach (var formatString in formatters)
{
    // Here is the quick way to format a Date
    var formatted = exampleDate.ToString(
        formatString
    );
    Console.WriteLine($"| ***{formatString}*** | | {formatted} |");
}

References

– docs.microsoft.com - Custom Date/Time Format

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Categories: blog dotnet

Tags: .NET C# DateTime C#

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Cody Merritt Anhorn

Email: cody.anhorn@hotmail.com