C# DateTime to "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" format

Question

I want to convert a C# DateTime to "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" format. But I don't find a built in method to get this format? Any comments?

Answer 1

DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss"); // case sensitive

Answer 2

This site has great examples check it out

// create date time 2008-03-09 16:05:07.123
DateTime dt = new DateTime(2008, 3, 9, 16, 5, 7, 123);

String.Format("{0:y yy yyy yyyy}",      dt);  // "8 08 008 2008"   year
String.Format("{0:M MM MMM MMMM}",      dt);  // "3 03 Mar March"  month
String.Format("{0:d dd ddd dddd}",      dt);  // "9 09 Sun Sunday" day
String.Format("{0:h hh H HH}",          dt);  // "4 04 16 16"      hour 12/24
String.Format("{0:m mm}",               dt);  // "5 05"            minute
String.Format("{0:s ss}",               dt);  // "7 07"            second
String.Format("{0:f ff fff ffff}",      dt);  // "1 12 123 1230"   sec.fraction
String.Format("{0:F FF FFF FFFF}",      dt);  // "1 12 123 123"    without zeroes
String.Format("{0:t tt}",               dt);  // "P PM"            A.M. or P.M.
String.Format("{0:z zz zzz}",           dt);  // "-6 -06 -06:00"   time zone

// month/day numbers without/with leading zeroes
String.Format("{0:M/d/yyyy}",           dt);  // "3/9/2008"
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}",         dt);  // "03/09/2008"

// day/month names
String.Format("{0:ddd, MMM d, yyyy}",   dt);  // "Sun, Mar 9, 2008"
String.Format("{0:dddd, MMMM d, yyyy}", dt);  // "Sunday, March 9, 2008"

// two/four digit year
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yy}",           dt);  // "03/09/08"
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}",         dt);  // "03/09/2008"

Standard DateTime Formatting

String.Format("{0:t}", dt);  // "4:05 PM"                           ShortTime
String.Format("{0:d}", dt);  // "3/9/2008"                          ShortDate
String.Format("{0:T}", dt);  // "4:05:07 PM"                        LongTime
String.Format("{0:D}", dt);  // "Sunday, March 09, 2008"            LongDate
String.Format("{0:f}", dt);  // "Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:05 PM"    LongDate+ShortTime
String.Format("{0:F}", dt);  // "Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:05:07 PM" FullDateTime
String.Format("{0:g}", dt);  // "3/9/2008 4:05 PM"                  ShortDate+ShortTime
String.Format("{0:G}", dt);  // "3/9/2008 4:05:07 PM"               ShortDate+LongTime
String.Format("{0:m}", dt);  // "March 09"                          MonthDay
String.Format("{0:y}", dt);  // "March, 2008"                       YearMonth
String.Format("{0:r}", dt);  // "Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:05:07 GMT"     RFC1123
String.Format("{0:s}", dt);  // "2008-03-09T16:05:07"               SortableDateTime
String.Format("{0:u}", dt);  // "2008-03-09 16:05:07Z"              UniversalSortableDateTime

/*
Specifier   DateTimeFormatInfo property     Pattern value (for en-US culture)
    t           ShortTimePattern                    h:mm tt
    d           ShortDatePattern                    M/d/yyyy
    T           LongTimePattern                     h:mm:ss tt
    D           LongDatePattern                     dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy
    f           (combination of D and t)            dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm tt
    F           FullDateTimePattern                 dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm:ss tt
    g           (combination of d and t)            M/d/yyyy h:mm tt
    G           (combination of d and T)            M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt
    m, M        MonthDayPattern                     MMMM dd
    y, Y        YearMonthPattern                    MMMM, yyyy
    r, R        RFC1123Pattern                      ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss 'GMT' (*)
    s           SortableDateTi­mePattern             yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss (*)
    u           UniversalSorta­bleDateTimePat­tern    yyyy'-'MM'-'dd HH':'mm':'ss'Z' (*)
                                                    (*) = culture independent   
*/

Update using c# 6 string interpolation format

// create date time 2008-03-09 16:05:07.123
DateTime dt = new DateTime(2008, 3, 9, 16, 5, 7, 123);

$"{dt:y yy yyy yyyy}";  // "8 08 008 2008"   year
$"{dt:M MM MMM MMMM}";  // "3 03 Mar March"  month
$"{dt:d dd ddd dddd}";  // "9 09 Sun Sunday" day
$"{dt:h hh H HH}";      // "4 04 16 16"      hour 12/24
$"{dt:m mm}";           // "5 05"            minute
$"{dt:s ss}";           // "7 07"            second
$"{dt:f ff fff ffff}";  // "1 12 123 1230"   sec.fraction
$"{dt:F FF FFF FFFF}";  // "1 12 123 123"    without zeroes
$"{dt:t tt}";           // "P PM"            A.M. or P.M.
$"{dt:z zz zzz}";       // "-6 -06 -06:00"   time zone

// month/day numbers without/with leading zeroes
$"{dt:M/d/yyyy}";    // "3/9/2008"
$"{dt:MM/dd/yyyy}";  // "03/09/2008"

// day/month names
$"{dt:ddd, MMM d, yyyy}";    // "Sun, Mar 9, 2008"
$"{dt:dddd, MMMM d, yyyy}";  // "Sunday, March 9, 2008"

// two/four digit year
$"{dt:MM/dd/yy}";    // "03/09/08"
$"{dt:MM/dd/yyyy}";  // "03/09/2008"

Answer 3

You've practically written the format yourself.

yourdate.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss")

• MM = two digit month
• mm = two digit minutes
• HH = two digit hour, 24 hour clock
• hh = two digit hour, 12 hour clock

Everything else should be self-explanatory.

Answer 4

You've just got to be careful between months (MM) and minutes (mm):

DateTime dt = DateTime.Now; // Or whatever
string s = dt.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss");

(Also note that HH is 24 hour clock, whereas hh would be 12 hour clock, usually in conjunction with t or tt for the am/pm designator.)

If you want to do this as part of a composite format string, you'd use:

string s = string.Format("The date/time is: {0:yyyyMMddHHmmss}", dt);

For further information, see the MSDN page on custom date and time formats.

Answer 5

DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") 05/29/2015
DateTime.Now.ToString("dddd, dd MMMM yyyy") Friday, 29 May 2015
DateTime.Now.ToString("dddd, dd MMMM yyyy") Friday, 29 May 2015 05:50
DateTime.Now.ToString("dddd, dd MMMM yyyy") Friday, 29 May 2015 05:50 AM
DateTime.Now.ToString("dddd, dd MMMM yyyy") Friday, 29 May 2015 5:50
DateTime.Now.ToString("dddd, dd MMMM yyyy") Friday, 29 May 2015 5:50 AM
DateTime.Now.ToString("dddd, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm:ss")    Friday, 29 May 2015 05:50:06
DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm")   05/29/2015 05:50
DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm tt")    05/29/2015 05:50 AM
DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy H:mm")    05/29/2015 5:50
DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy h:mm tt") 05/29/2015 5:50 AM
DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss")    05/29/2015 05:50:06
DateTime.Now.ToString("MMMM dd")    May 29
DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy’-‘MM’-‘dd’T’HH’:’mm’:’ss.fffffffK") 2015-05-16T05:50:06.7199222-04:00
DateTime.Now.ToString("ddd, dd MMM yyy HH’:’mm’:’ss ‘GMT’") Fri, 16 May 2015 05:50:06 GMT
DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy’-‘MM’-‘dd’T’HH’:’mm’:’ss")  2015-05-16T05:50:06
DateTime.Now.ToString("HH:mm")  05:50
DateTime.Now.ToString("hh:mm tt")   05:50 AM
DateTime.Now.ToString("H:mm")   5:50
DateTime.Now.ToString("h:mm tt")    5:50 AM
DateTime.Now.ToString("HH:mm:ss")   05:50:06
DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy MMMM")  2015 May

Answer 6

You can use a custom format string:

DateTime d = DateTime.Now;
string dateString = d.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss");

Substitute "hh" for "HH" if you do not want 24-hour clock time.

Answer 7

If you use ReSharper, get help with ':' (see image)

Answer 8

In .Net Standard 2 you can format DateTime like belows:

DateTime dt = DateTime.Now;
CultureInfo iv = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;

// Default formats
// D - long date           Tuesday, 24 April 2018
// d - short date          04/24/2018
// F - full date long      Tuesday, 24 April 2018 06:30:00
// f - full date short     Tuesday, 24 April 2018 06:30
// G - general long        04/24/2018 06:30:00
// g - general short       04/24/2018 06:30
// U - universal full      Tuesday, 24 April 2018 06:30:00
// u - universal sortable  2018-04-24 06:30:00
// s - sortable            2018-04-24T06:30:00
// T - long time           06:30:00
// t - short time          06:30
// O - ISO 8601            2018-04-24T06:30:00.0000000
// R - RFC 1123            Tue, 24 Apr 2018 06:30:00 GMT           
// M - month               April 24
// Y - year month          2018 April
Console.WriteLine(dt.ToString("D", iv));

// Custom formats
// M/d/yy                  4/8/18
// MM/dd/yyyy              04/08/2018
// yy-MM-dd                08-04-18
// yy-MMM-dd ddd           08-Apr-18 Sun
// yyyy-M-d dddd           2018-4-8 Sunday
// yyyy MMMM dd            2018 April 08      
// h:mm:ss tt zzz          4:03:05 PM -03
// HH:m:s tt zzz           16:03:05 -03:00
// hh:mm:ss t z            04:03:05 P -03
// HH:mm:ss tt zz          16:03:05 PM -03      
Console.WriteLine(dt.ToString("M/d/yy", iv));

Answer 9

DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss");

if you just want it displayed as a string

Answer 10

string date = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MMM-yy");  //05-Aug-13

Answer 11

I am surprised no one has a link for this . any format can be created using the guidelines here:

Custom Date and Time Format Strings

For your specific example (As others have indicated) use something like

my_format="yyyyMMddHHmmss";
DateTime.Now.ToString(my_format);

Where my_format can be any string combination of y,M,H,m,s,f,F and more! Check out the link.

Answer 12

Get the date as a DateTime object instead of a String. Then you can format it as you want.

• MM/dd/yyyy 08/22/2006
• dddd, dd MMMM yyyy Tuesday, 22 August 2006
• dddd, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm Tuesday, 22 August 2006 06:30
• dddd, dd MMMM yyyy hh:mm tt Tuesday, 22 August 2006 06:30 AM
• dddd, dd MMMM yyyy H:mm Tuesday, 22 August 2006 6:30
• dddd, dd MMMM yyyy h:mm tt Tuesday, 22 August 2006 6:30 AM
• dddd, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Tuesday, 22 August 2006 06:30:07
• MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm 08/22/2006 06:30
• MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm tt 08/22/2006 06:30 AM
• MM/dd/yyyy H:mm 08/22/2006 6:30
• MM/dd/yyyy h:mm tt 08/22/2006 6:30 AM
• MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss 08/22/2006 06:30:07

Click here for more patterns

Answer 13

using C# 6.0

$"Date-{DateTime.Now:yyyyMMddHHmmss}"

Answer 14

Specify formatted DateTime as Utc:

Step 1 - Initial date

var initialDtm = DateTime.Now;

Step 2 - Format date as willing ("yyyyMMddHHmmss")

var formattedDtm = DateTime.ParseExact(initialDtm.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss"), "yyyyMMddHHmmss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);    

Step 3 - Specify kind of date (Utc)

var specifiedDtm = DateTime.SpecifyKind(formattedDtm, DateTimeKind.Utc);

Answer 15

An easy Method, Full control over 'from type' and 'to type', and only need to remember this code for future castings

DateTime.ParseExact(InputDate, "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture).ToString("yyyy/MM/dd"));

Answer 16

It is not a big deal. you can simply put like this

WriteLine($"{DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd-HH:mm:ss")}");

Excuse here for I used $ which is for string Interpolation .

Answer 17

Chances are slim that any of the above answers wouldn't has solved your problem. Nonetheless, I'm sharing my method which always works for me for different format of datetimes.

//Definition   
     public static DateTime ConvertPlainStringToDatetime(string Date, string inputFormat, string  outputFormat)
            {
                DateTime date;
                CultureInfo enUS = new CultureInfo("en-US");
                DateTime.TryParseExact(Date, inputFormat, enUS,
                                    DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal, out date);

                string formatedDateTime = date.ToString(outputFormat);
                return Convert.ToDateTime(formatedDateTime);   
            }
//Calling

    string oFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
    DateTime requiredDT = ConvertPlainStringToDatetime("20190205","yyyyMMddHHmmss", oFormat  );
    DateTime requiredDT = ConvertPlainStringToDatetime("20190508-12:46:42","yyyyMMdd-HH:mm:ss", oFormat);

Answer 18

After spent a lot of hours on Google search, I found the below solution as when I locally give date time, no exception while from other server, there was Error......... Date is not in proper format.. Before saving/ searching Text box date time in C#, just checking either the outer Serer Culture is same like database server culture.. Ex both should be "en-US" or must be both "en-GB" asp below snap shot.

Even with different date format like (dd/mm/yyyy) or (yyyy/mm/dd), it will save or search accurately.