How would you format DateTime in international format?

Question

The international string representation format is (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ±HHMM).

e.g. 2010-06-10 21:21:10 -0400

basically the problem I am having is figuring out how to get the difference from GMT.

DateTime dt = new DateTime(2008, 3, 9, 16, 5, 7, 123);
String.Format("{0:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss ????}", dt);

Answer 1

I think that is shown in the hours. That -4 is the difference from GMT.

Oh I see, sorry misunderstood the question.

Answer 2

DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss zzz");

will output:

2010-06-29 08:25:16 -07:00

Answer 3

You want to use DateTimeOffset.

Answer 4

I would go with ISO format.

And the W3C has also a note on the topic: Date and Time Formats.

These are international standards.

Answer 5

How would you format DateTime in international format?

You can use a custom format specifier (there is no standard formats for ISO standard date/time formats).

the problem I am having is figuring out how to get the difference from GMT.

Parse using one of DateTimeOffset's static methods, and then check the Offset property.

Or if you mean, how to include the offset in the string: use DateTimeOffset with the correct timezone and a custom format specifier.

Answer 6

string isoFormat = inputDateTime.Format("s");