C# convert datetimeoffset to string with milliseconds

Question

The default toString() method in datetimeoffset converts the time into string format but loses the milliseconds. Is there anyway to preserve it?

Answer 1

ToString() takes a format argument. There are existing string format codes that will print milliseconds - take a look at the list here.

For example the format code "o" will print a full time string with milliseconds, or you can create your own format string to match your needs and use the "ffff" specifier to add milliseconds where appropriate.

myDateTime.ToString("o")

Answer 2

You have to use "ffff" in the string format to get miliseconds, like:

DateTime date = DateTime.Now;
 string strDate = String.Format("{0:dd.MM.yyyy hh:mm.ss:ffff}", date);

Mitja

Answer 3

According to the documentation of DateTimeOffset this behaves in most ways similar to ToString of the DateTime class. This means that you can for example use the standard format string o which shows the milliseconds, or you can use whatever custom format pattern you want.

So you can do this:

Console.WriteLine(dto.ToString("o"));

Answer 4

You can do this using the f character in your format string.

DateTimeOffset.Now.ToString("ddMMyyy-HH:mm:ss")

Gives "23032011-16:58:36"

DateTimeOffset.Now.ToString("ddMMyyy:HHmmssffff")

Gives "23032011-16:59:088562"