C# in a Nutshell, Second Edition

DateTime Format Specifiers

Table B-3 lists the valid format specifiers supported by the Format method on the DateTime type (see System.IFormattable).

Table B-3. DateTime Format Specifiers

Specifier	String result
d	MM/dd/yyyy
D	dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy
f	dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy HH:mm
F	dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss
g	MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm
G	MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss
m, M	MMMM dd
r, R	Ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss 'GMT'
s	yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss
S	yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss GMT
t	HH:mm
T	HH:mm:ss
u	yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss
U	dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss
y, Y	MMMM, yyyy

Here’s an example that uses these custom format specifiers on a DateTime value:

using System; class TestDateTimeFormats { static void Main( ) { DateTime dt = new DateTime(2000, 10, 11, 15, 32, 14); // Prints "2000-10-11T15:32:14" Console.WriteLine(dt.ToString( )); // Prints "Wednesday, October 11, 2000" Console.WriteLine("{0}", dt); // Prints "10/11/2000" Console.WriteLine("{0:d}", dt); // Prints "Wednesday, October 11, 2000" Console.WriteLine("{0:D}", dt); // Prints "Wednesday, October 11, 2000 3:32 PM" Console.WriteLine("{0:f}", dt); // Prints "Wednesday, October 11, 2000 3:32:14 PM" Console.WriteLine("{0:F}", dt); // Prints "10/11/2000 3:32 PM" Console.WriteLine("{0:g}", dt); // Prints "10/11/2000 3:32:14 PM" Console.WriteLine("{0:G}", dt); // Prints "October 11" Console.WriteLine("{0:m}", dt); // Prints "October 11" Console.WriteLine("{0:M}", dt); // Prints ...