C# DateTime ParseExact(String, String, IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles)

Description

DateTime ParseExact(String, String, IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles)converts the specified string representation of a date and time to its DateTime equivalent using the specified format, culture-specific format information, and style. The format of the string representation must match the specified format exactly or an exception is thrown.

Syntax

DateTime.ParseExact(String, String, IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles) has the following syntax.


public static DateTime ParseExact(
  string s,/*from  w  w  w  .  jav  a 2s. co m*/
  string format,
  IFormatProvider provider,
  DateTimeStyles style
)

Parameters

DateTime.ParseExact(String, String, IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles) has the following parameters.

s - A string containing a date and time to convert.
format - A format specifier that defines the required format of s. For more information, see the Remarks section.
provider - An object that supplies culture-specific formatting information about s.
style - A bitwise combination of the enumeration values that provides additional information about s, about style elements that may be present in s, or about the conversion from s to a DateTime value. A typical value to specify is None.

Returns

DateTime.ParseExact(String, String, IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles) method returns An object that is equivalent to the date and time contained in s, as specified by format, provider, and style.

Example

The following example demonstrates the ParseExact(String, String, IFormatProvider) method. Note that the string " 5/01/2009 8:30 AM" cannot be parsed successfully when the styles parameter equals DateTimeStyles.None because leading spaces are not allowed by format.

Additionally, the string "5/01/2009 09:00" cannot be parsed successfully with a format of "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm" because the date string does not precede the month number with a leading zero, as format requires.


//  ww w . java2  s  . c  om
using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      CultureInfo enUS = new CultureInfo("en-US"); 
      string dateString;
      DateTime dateValue;

      // Parse date with no style flags.
      dateString = " 5/01/2009 8:30 AM";
      try {
         dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "g", enUS, DateTimeStyles.None);
         Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1} ({2}).", dateString, dateValue, 
                           dateValue.Kind);
      }                           
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is not in an acceptable format.", dateString);
      }
      // Allow a leading space in the date string. 
      try {
         dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "g", enUS, DateTimeStyles.AllowLeadingWhite);
         Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1} ({2}).", dateString, dateValue, 
                           dateValue.Kind);
      }                           
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is not in an acceptable format.", dateString);
      }
   }
}

The code above generates the following result.

Example 2


//  w ww.jav  a2  s.c om
using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      CultureInfo enUS = new CultureInfo("en-US"); 
      string dateString;
      DateTime dateValue;
      
      // Use custom formats with M and MM.
      dateString = "5/01/2009 09:00";
      try {
         dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "M/dd/yyyy hh:mm", enUS, DateTimeStyles.None);
         Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1} ({2}).", dateString, dateValue, 
                           dateValue.Kind);
      }                           
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is not in an acceptable format.", dateString);
      }
      // Allow a leading space in the date string. 
      try {
         dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm", enUS, DateTimeStyles.None);
         Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1} ({2}).", dateString, dateValue, 
                           dateValue.Kind);
      }                           
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is not in an acceptable format.", dateString);
      }
   }
}

The code above generates the following result.

Example 3

Parse a string with time zone information.


//from  w ww. j  a  v a  2 s .co  m
using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      CultureInfo enUS = new CultureInfo("en-US"); 
      string dateString;
      DateTime dateValue;

      // Parse a string with time zone information.
      dateString = "05/01/2009 01:30:42 PM -05:00"; 
      try {
         dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt zzz", enUS, DateTimeStyles.None);
         Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1} ({2}).", dateString, dateValue, 
                           dateValue.Kind);
      }                           
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is not in an acceptable format.", dateString);
      }
      
      // Allow a leading space in the date string. 
      try {
         dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt zzz", enUS, 
                                     DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal);
         Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1} ({2}).", dateString, dateValue, 
                           dateValue.Kind);
      }                           
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is not in an acceptable format.", dateString);
      }
   }
}

The code above generates the following result.

Example 5

Parse a string represengting UTC.


//from w w  w. j  a  v  a  2 s.  c  o m
using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      CultureInfo enUS = new CultureInfo("en-US"); 
      string dateString;
      DateTime dateValue;

      // Parse a string represengting UTC.
      dateString = "2008-06-11T16:11:20.0904778Z";
      try {
         dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "o", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, 
                                     DateTimeStyles.None);
         Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1} ({2}).", dateString, dateValue, 
                           dateValue.Kind);
      }                           
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is not in an acceptable format.", dateString);
      }
      try {
         dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "o", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, 
                                     DateTimeStyles.RoundtripKind);
         Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1} ({2}).", dateString, dateValue, 
                           dateValue.Kind);
      }                           
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is not in an acceptable format.", dateString);
      }
   }
}

The code above generates the following result.