C# error "String was not recognized as a valid DateTime"

Question

I am trying to save the DateTime.Now in the format "yyyyMMdd"

I have this code

string todaysDate = DateTime.Now.ToString();

...

U_Date_of_PD_added = GetDateFromString(todaysDate)

// U_Date_of_PD_added is a datetime Database field

...

//Method to get date from string
private DateTime GetDateFromString(string dateString)
{
   string format = "yyyyMMdd";
   return DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
}

I keep getting the error "String was not recognized as a valid DateTime." as it tries to parse. What could be wrong?

I do not care if it saves the time, I would prefer 00:00:00.000

Why convert the datetime into a string? Almost every data access technology in existence lets you pass parameters as their correct datatype, and deals with marshalling those values to the database, so that you don't have to fiddle with this kind of thing. — Damien_The_Unbeliever
– Damien_The_Unbeliever, Commented Oct 26, 2011 at 12:00
@KinyanjuiKamau: So this is clearly failing in your very first sentence - you're not managing to save DateTime.Now in the format "yyyyMMdd" and that problem happens before parsing. — Jon Skeet
– Jon Skeet, Commented Oct 26, 2011 at 12:06

Mark Byers · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-26 12:22:53Z

11

You also need to give the format string when you convert the date to a string:

string todaysDate = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

edited Oct 26, 2011 at 12:22

answered Oct 26, 2011 at 12:03

Mark Byers

843k202 gold badges1.6k silver badges1.5k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

xanatos · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-26 12:16:55Z

2

DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

will give you the current date. Note that it's important the CultureInfo.InvariantCulture. If you don't trust it, try:

var r = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd", new CultureInfo("ar-SA")); // 14321128
var r2 = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture); // 20111026

answered Oct 26, 2011 at 12:16

xanatos

112k13 gold badges209 silver badges296 bronze badges

1 Comment

Mark Byers Over a year ago

+1: That "ar-SA" culture info is a good test case, and I've updated my answer.

Hardik · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-02 16:11:03Z

2

First you get today's date and then convert in string as follow and you are done.

DateTime today = DateTime.Today.Date;
string date = today.ToString("yyyy/MM/dd");

edited Sep 2, 2016 at 16:11

Hardik

3,9053 gold badges37 silver badges45 bronze badges

answered Jul 2, 2014 at 6:13

Kinjal Patel

4201 gold badge13 silver badges21 bronze badges

1 Comment

Jon Skeet Over a year ago

That isn't even valid code (you don't have a valid string literal)... and unless you specify the culture, you may well get a result you don't expect. Additionally, please pay attention to formatting when you post. Your code isn't shown as code...

PVitt · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-26 12:04:12Z

1

DateTime.Now.ToString() results in a format that is region specific, but it mostly contains the time. This format is called "General date/time pattern (long time)."

So trying to parse it with your format string will fail because your format string does not contain information about the time component.

You can use DateTime.TryParse without providing a format string or you have to provide your format string to your call to DateTime.Now.ToString as well.

answered Oct 26, 2011 at 12:04

PVitt

11.8k5 gold badges54 silver badges85 bronze badges

Comments

Klaus Byskov Pedersen · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-26 12:04:47Z

1

The value of todaysDate cannot be converted to a DateTime object by using DateTime.Now.ToString() because DateTime.Now.ToString() results in a value that uses the default date format (26-10-2011 14:02:31). Try doing this instead: string todaysDate = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd"); and you should be able to convert it back using your GetDateFromString method.

answered Oct 26, 2011 at 12:04

Klaus Byskov Pedersen

122k31 gold badges191 silver badges223 bronze badges

Comments

s_nair · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-26 12:12:07Z

0

DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd") will return a string of 20110926.

answered Oct 26, 2011 at 12:12

s_nair

8004 silver badges12 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

C# error "String was not recognized as a valid DateTime"

6 Answers 6

Comments

1 Comment

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

6 Answers 6

Comments

1 Comment

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related