C# String Format for DateTime Overview

In this tutorial, we are going to use the method String.Format to format string for DateTime DataType.

Format a String for DateTime using C#

Example:

    DateTime dateTime = DateTime.Now;
    String date;

    date = String.Format("Date & Time Format: {0}", dateTime);
    Console.WriteLine(date);

    date = String.Format("Date Only Format: {0:D}", dateTime);
    Console.WriteLine(date);

    date = String.Format("Time Only Format: {0:T}", dateTime);
    Console.WriteLine(date);

Output

Date time Format: 9/19/2019 6:01:19 PM
Date Only Format: Thursday, September 19, 2019
Time Only Format: 6:02:42 PM

C# Date Time Formats

There are different types of DateTime formats that you can use to format the given DateTime values in C#.

Character	Description	Usage	Example
D	Short Date	{0:d}	09-19-2019
D	Long Date	{0:D}	Sep 19 2019
t or T	Long Date Time	{0:f}	Sep 19 2019 15:34:18
g or G	Short Date Time	{0:g}	09-19-2019 15:34:18
M	Short Date	{0:M}	Sep 17
R	RFC1123 Date Time String	{0:r}	Thu , Sep 17 2019 15:34:18 GMT
S	Sortable Date/Time	{0:s}	2019-19-09T05:34:10
U	Universal Sortable Date	{0:u}	2019-19-09 15:34:47Z
1U	Universal full date	{0:U}	Sep 19 2019 04:18:07
Y	Year month pattern	{0:Y}	Sep, 2019

You can also use the date and time separators for better DateTime formation. For example:

    DateTime dateTime = DateTime.Now;

    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:M/d/yyyy}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yy}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:ddd, MMM d, yyyy}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:dddd, MMMM d, yyyy}", dateTime));

Output

19/9/2019 19:29:34
9/19/2019
09/19/2019
09/19/19
Thu, Sep 19, 2019
Thursday, September 19, 2019

Standard DateTime format

There are some defined standard patterns for the DateTimeFormatInfo in the .NET Framework.

For example, the property ShortTimePattern is a string that contains value h:mm for US time and HH:MM for DE time.

Character	DateTimeFromatInfo Property	Pattern
t	ShortTimePattern	h:mm tt
d	ShortDatePattern	M/d/yyyy
T	LongTimePattern	h:mm:ss tt
D	LongDatePattern	dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy
f	(combination of D and t)	dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm tt
F	FullDateTimePattern	dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm:ss tt
g	(combination of d and t)	M/d/yyyy h:mm tt
G	(combination of d and T)	M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt
m, M	MonthDayPattern	MMMM dd
y, Y	YearMonthPattern	MMMM, yyyy
r, R	RFC1123Pattern	ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH’:’mm’:’ss ‘GMT’ (*)
s	SortableDateTimePattern	yyyy’-‘MM’-‘dd’T’HH’:’mm’:’ss (*)
u	UniversalSortableDateTimePattern	yyyy’-‘MM’-‘dd HH’:’mm’:’ss’Z’ (*)

Following are examples show the use of standard format specifiers

    DateTime dateTime = DateTime.Now;

    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:t}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:d}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:T}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:D}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:f}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:F}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:g}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:G}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:m}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:y}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:r}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:s}", dateTime));
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:u}", dateTime));

Output

7:50 PM
9/19/2019
7:51:19 PM
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Thursday, September 19, 2019 7:51 PM
Thursday, September 19, 2019 7:52:12 PM
9/19/2019 7:52 PM
9/19/2019 7:52:55 PM
September 19
September, 2019
Thu, 19 Sep 2019 19:53:46 GMT
2019-09-19T19:54:09
2019-09-19 19:54:24Z

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