Parse String into a DateTime Object in C#

Question

I am trying to Parse a String date and time into a single .NET DateTime object. I have the following code:

string dtObjFormat = "dd MMM YYYY HH:mm";
string mydatetimemash = e.Date + " " + e.Time; // this becomes 25 May 2013 10:30
DateTime dt;

if (DateTime.TryParseExact(mydatetimemash, dtObjFormat, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
    Console.WriteLine(dt);
} else 
{
    dt = DateTime.Now;
    Console.WriteLine(dt);
}

But the TryParseExact always returns false for me, meaning the Parse fails. What am I doing wrong?

@JMK please post as Answer, so that I mark it as Answer. You were right! :) — J86
– J86, Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 16:53
@JKM I bet it's just test code; in the real code he will be parsing real dates. — Matthew Watson
– Matthew Watson, Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 17:06
I'm printing to the Console for debugging purposes. I have other things that I want to do with the DateTime object ;) — J86
– J86, Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 17:06
Surely @JMK gave the right answer. DateTime.TryParseExact("25 May 2013 10:30", "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out dt) works fine, whereas the variant with "YYYY" doesn't work. — Jeppe Stig Nielsen
– Jeppe Stig Nielsen, Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 17:12

JMK · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-15 17:24:39Z

2

Your Y's need to be lower case, like so:

string dtObjFormat = "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm";
string mydatetimemash = e.Date + " " + e.Time; // this becomes 25 May 2013 10:30
DateTime dt;

if (DateTime.TryParseExact(mydatetimemash, dtObjFormat, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
    Console.WriteLine(dt);
} else 
{
    dt = DateTime.Now;
    Console.WriteLine(dt);
}

answered Apr 15, 2013 at 17:24

JMK

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1 Comment

J86 Over a year ago

Haha finally :D Thank You very much JMK. ^_^

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