Convert DateTime in c# using year month day and time

Question

I have the following xml file:

<Test>
    <Header>
       <Title>Test</Title>
       <Time>Wed Mar 21 14:37:04 2018</Time>
...

I can parse it and get the time:

public DateTime Time
{
    get { return _time; }
    private set { _time = value; }
}

foreach (XElement el in header.Elements()) {
    if (String.Compare(el.Name.ToString(), "Time", true) == 0) {
        string format = el.Value;
        _time = DateTime.ParseExact(format, "ddd MMM d H:m:s yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
        Console.WriteLine(_time);
    }
}

With the above solution, I can get the time but in the following format :

3/21/2018 2:56:40 PM

How can I get it in this format?

2018-03-21 14:56:40

Thanks in advance!

It's not clear what you mean. You're parsing to a `DateTime` value. That doesn't have a format - it's just a value. If you want a string representation of that value in a particular format, you should call `ToString` and specify the format. — Jon Skeet, Mar 27 '18 at 07:46
[Duplicate?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3025361/c-sharp-datetime-to-yyyymmddhhmmss-format?rq=1) — JAD, Mar 27 '18 at 07:47
@JAD if I add >> string dateT = time.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"); and then Console.WriteLine(dateT), I can see it in the log — Anton, Mar 27 '18 at 09:59

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 27 '18 at 07:54

2

Specifying a format doesn't make sense for a DateTime object. They have the months, days, years, minutes etc split up in their properties. See the documentation.

It doesn't make sense to ask for these to be in a certain order, unless you want to convert it to a string:

time.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");

If you want to access certain parts of the datetime, you can use their properties directly:

time.Year;
time.Month;

etc.

answered Mar 27 '18 at 07:54

JAD

2,035
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@Anton what exactly are you *trying* to do though? As I said in my answer, as long as you are working with a `DateTime` object, the format is irrelevant. Once you use `ToString(format)` to specify a format, it is a string, and you lose `DateTime`-functionality. – JAD Mar 27 '18 at 11:09

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 27 '18 at 08:05

Use DateTime.ToString(string format) to do that.

foreach (XElement el in header.Elements()) {
    if (String.Compare(el.Name.ToString(), "Time", true) == 0) {
        string format = el.Value;
        _time = DateTime.ParseExact(format, "ddd MMM d H:m:s yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
        Console.WriteLine(_time.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"));
    }
}

Convert DateTime in c# using year month day and time

2 Answers2