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• C#- Datetime Custom Formats
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[edit] How to Use C# Dates and Times

C# dates and times are a powerful feature in the .NET framework. You can use this for date and time manipulation. It provides a very simple way to work with dates and times. Lets take a look at some real code.

Here is how you would use the datetime struct:

DateTime MyDate(year, month, day, hour, minute, second, millisecond);

The datetime class is overloaded with 12 other versions. So, you don't have to use the exxact same code that we have above.

We will now declare a datetime object. Then print it Example 1:

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int year = 2007;
        int month = 7;
        int day = 2;
        DateTime MyDate = new DateTime(year, month, day);
 
        //print date
        Console.WriteLine("The date is: ");
        Console.WriteLine(MyDate.Month + "/" + MyDate.Day + "/" + MyDate.Year);
        Console.Read();
    }
}

Output:

The date is:
7/2/2007

[edit] C# Datetime as a Long

The datetime class is a flexible one. You are also able to have a long represent a date. The long represents the amont of ticks from January 1, 0001 - 12AM. For example, if you want the date and time for the long 6725312194358 you can put this in the datetime constructor. Take a look below:

Example 2: This example will convert a long to a regular date and time

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        DateTime MyDate = new DateTime(6725312194358);
 
        //print date
        Console.WriteLine("The date and time is: ");
        Console.WriteLine(MyDate.Month + "/" + MyDate.Day + "/" + MyDate.Year);
        Console.WriteLine(MyDate.Hour + ":" + MyDate.Minute + ":" + MyDate.Second);
        Console.Read();
    }
}

Output:

1/8/1
18:48:51

The date for this particular output is January 8, 0001 6:48pm and 51 seconds.

[edit] Convert a Long (Ticks) to a Datetime

Example 3: This example will convert a long to a datetime object

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        long MyLongDate = 633189637786963557;
        DateTime MyDate = new DateTime(MyLongDate);
 
        //print date and time
        Console.WriteLine("The date is: ");
        Console.WriteLine(MyDate.Month + "/" + MyDate.Day + "/" + MyDate.Year);
        Console.WriteLine(MyDate.Hour + ":" + MyDate.Minute + ":" + MyDate.Second);
        Console.Read();
    }
}

Output:

7/2/2007
9:2:58

So the date and time is July 2, 2007 - 9:02AM 58 seconds

[edit] C# Datetime properties and Methods

We have given you the basics of how to use the datetime class. Now we will provide you with the datetime class and object reference

[edit] C# Convert a DateTime to a String

When using a DateTime object you can also convert it to a string by using the ToString() method. When you convert it to a string it will save as the format that is below.

12/21/2006 7:10:45 AM

The ToString() method returns the date and the time. The syntax to convert a datetime to a string is displayed below.

object.ToString(<format string>);

• format string: This is the place where you want to specifiy your datetime format. C# is a powerful tool it will allow you to display the date and/or time in any format as you please.

To format your DateTime object here is a list of built-in formats that you can use. You must put the format character as a parameter in the ToString() method.

Lets try some examples using the chart above

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        DateTime date = DateTime.Now;
        Console.WriteLine(date.ToString("r"));
        Console.Read();
    }
}

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        DateTime date = DateTime.Now;
        Console.WriteLine(date.ToString("f"));
        Console.Read();
    }
}

[edit] C# DateTime properties

These are all the datetime properties that are available to the .NET framework.

[edit] C# DateTime Methods

These are all the datetime methods that are available to the .NET framework