format date in c#

Question

How can I format a date as dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yy ?

Like in VB format("dd/mm/yy",now)

How can I do this in C#?

Answer 1

It's almost the same, simply use the DateTime.ToString() method, e.g:

DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yy");

Or:

DateTime dt = GetDate(); // GetDate() returns some date
dt.ToString("dd/MM/yy");

In addition, you might want to consider using one of the predefined date/time formats, e.g:

DateTime.Now.ToString("g");
// returns "02/01/2009 9:07 PM" for en-US
// or "01.02.2009 21:07" for de-CH 

These ensure that the format will be correct, independent of the current locale settings.

Check the following MSDN pages for more information

• DateTime.ToString() method
• Standard Date and Time Format Strings
• Custom Date and Time Format Strings

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Some additional, related information:

If you want to display a date in a specific locale / culture, then there is an overload of the ToString() method that takes an IFormatProvider:

DateTime dt = GetDate();
dt.ToString("g", new CultureInfo("en-US")); // returns "5/26/2009 10:39 PM"
dt.ToString("g", new CultureInfo("de-CH")); // returns "26.05.2009 22:39"

Or alternatively, you can set the CultureInfo of the current thread prior to formatting a date:

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo("en-US");
dt.ToString("g"); // returns "5/26/2009 10:39 PM"

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo("de-CH");
dt.ToString("g"); // returns "26.05.2009 22:39"

Answer 2

string.Format("{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", DateTime.Now)

Look up "format strings" on MSDN to see all formatting options.

Use yy, yyyy, M, MM, MMM, MMMM, d, dd, ddd, dddd for the date component

Use h, hh, H, HH, m, mm, s, ss for the time-of-day component