How to get System DateTime format?

Question

I am looking for a solution to get system date time format.

For example: if I get DateTime.Now? Which Date Time Format is this using? DD/MM/YYYY etc

Answer 1

If it has not been changed elsewhere, this will get it:

string sysFormat = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern; 

If using a WinForms app, you may also look at the UICulture:

string sysUIFormat = CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern; 

Note that DateTimeFormat is a read-write property, so it can be changed.

Answer 2

The answers above are not fully correct.

I had a situation that my Main thread and my UI thread were forced to be in "en-US" culture (by design). My Windows DateTime format was "dd/MM/yyyy"

string sysFormat = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern; string sysUIFormat = CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern; 

returned "MM/dd/yyyy", but I wanted to get my real Windows format. The only way I was able to do so is by creating a dummy thread.

System.Threading.Thread threadForCulture = new System.Threading.Thread(delegate(){} ); string format = threadForCulture.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern;