DateTime Parse dilemma in C#

Question

Been trying to solve this one for hours...

string date = "2009-09-23T13:00:00"

DateTime t = new DateTime();
t = DateTime.ParseExact(date, "HH:mm", null);

Results in this exception:

System.FormatException was unhandled Message="String was not recognized as a valid DateTime."

Answer 1

t = DateTime.ParseExact(date, "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss", null); 

With ParseExact, you're trying to take a string and tell the parser exactly what format the string is in. The above line will convert this to a valid DateTime.

If you want to SHOW only the hours and minutes, you would then add the following:

string myString = t.ToString("HH:mm");

Answer 2

You'll have to specify the whole string from which it is parsed.

DateTime.ParseExact(date, "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss", null);

Answer 3

ParseExact requires the string to exactly match the format. This one doesn't. You need yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss as your string.

Answer 4

The documentation says it all:

The format of the string representation must match a specified format exactly or an exception is thrown.

Your date string does not match the format HH:mm.

By the way, you can leave the = new DateTime(); part away.

Answer 5

You're trying to specify a format that does not match the input. ParseExact requires you to specify the input format; you cannot simply specify a format indicating which components you would like to extract.

The format you would need to use here is "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss".

However, given that this looks like an XML date/time format, if it is then you may be better off using the XmlConvert.ToDateTime method instead as it can handle the subtleties of the XML date format specification.