How to Convert a String to DateTime in C#

Learn how to convert a string representing a date and time into a DateTime object in C#, using practical examples for format specifiers.
---
Disclaimer/Disclosure: Some of the content was synthetically produced using various Generative AI (artificial intelligence) tools; so, there may be inaccuracies or misleading information present in the video. Please consider this before relying on the content to make any decisions or take any actions etc. If you still have any concerns, please feel free to write them in a comment. Thank you.
---
In software development, it's common to handle date and time data. A frequent task is converting a string that represents a date and time into a DateTime object in C. If you've ever faced a situation where you have a date as a string (such as "20090530123001") and you need to manipulate it as a DateTime object, this guide will walk you through how to achieve that.

String to DateTime Conversion in C

The DateTime structure has several methods to parse strings into date and time representations. One such method is DateTime.ParseExact, which is particularly useful when you know the exact format of your input string.

Here’s how you can convert the string "20090530123001" into a DateTime object:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation

Format Specifiers:
In the ParseExact method, we used "yyyyMMddHHmmss" as the format string. This tells the parser exactly how to interpret each part of the string:

yyyy - Year

MM - Month

dd - Day

HH - Hour (24-hour clock)

mm - Minutes

ss - Seconds

CultureInfo.InvariantCulture:
This ensures that the parsing is not affected by regional settings on the user's machine. By using InvariantCulture, you specify that the parsing uses a format-independent of the machine's locale settings.

When to Use ParseExact?

Use DateTime.ParseExact when you have a precise format that you expect your date and time string to adhere to. If the format of the input string could vary, DateTime.TryParse or DateTime.TryParseExact might be more appropriate, as they provide more flexibility and error handling.

Conclusion

Converting a string to a DateTime in C can seem daunting, but with methods like ParseExact, it's a straightforward process when you know the expected format of the input string. This method ensures that your application handles date and time data reliably and consistently.

By mastering these conversions, you'll be able to work efficiently with date and time data, whether you're logging events, processing user inputs, or scheduling tasks.