Format the time portion of a DateTime with leading space for single-digit hours

Question

I'm working on a project where I need to format a string with a bunch of stuff but the pertinent part is the first part - the time of a tour:

Given

DateTime start = Convert.ToDateTime(myClass.StartDateTime);

How do I output it with string.Format to show either 10:00 or < space >3:00?

I know I can use a format string like:

string  text = string.Format("{0:hh:mm tt}",_start);

but that gives me a leading zero (03:00 PM) that I don't want for single digit hours.

Is there something I can add into the format string to do this or do I have to manually substitute a space for a leading zero? (I suspect this is the case but wanted to ask so I can learn how if there is a format method.)

Answer 1

string  _text = string.Format("{0:h:mm tt}",_start).PadLeft(8, ' ');

should do it.

The single "h" in the Time Format String will make it so that the zero doesn't show if it is a single digit hour,l and the PadLeft function will ensure that it is the proper width.

Answer 2

You can have a conditional check in the ToString overload.

string _text = _start.ToString((_start.Hour > 9) ? "hh:mm tt" : " h:mm tt");