String was not recognized as a valid DateTime ParseExact

Question

I am trying to parse a date in c# and have the following line of code

DateTime.ParseExact(DateSelected, "ddd MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy", Culture)

when I debug DateSelected is coming in as "Tue Feb 16 12:36:41 CST 2010" but I get an expection saying "String was not recognized as a valid DateTime."

Answer 1

Following this previous question, zone abbreviations are not recognized. Try this:

DateTime parsed = DateTime.ParseExact(
    "Tue Feb 16 12:36:41 CST 2010".Replace("CST", "+02:00"), 
    "ddd MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy",
    new CultureInfo("en-GB"));

This links can also be useful:

• Time zone abbreviations
• TZ4Net Library
• Time Zones in the .NET Framework