The following table describes the custom date-time format specifiers:
| Format Specifier | Description |
|---|---|
| d | Displays the current day of the month, measured as a number between 1 and 31, inclusive. If the day is a single digit only (1-9), then it is displayed as a single digit. Note that if the 'd' format specifier is used alone, without other custom format strings, it is interpreted as the standard short date pattern format specifier. If the 'd' format specifier is passed with other custom format specifiers, it is interpreted as a custom format specifier. |
| dd | Displays the current day of the month, measured as a number between 1 and 31, inclusive. If the day is a single digit only (1-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09). |
| ddd | Displays the abbreviated name of the day for the specified DateTime object. If a specific valid format provider (a non-null object that implements IFormatProvider with the expected property) is not supplied, then the AbbreviatedDayNames property of the DateTimeFormat object and its current culture associated with the current thread is used. Otherwise, the AbbreviatedDayNames property from the specified format provider is used. |
| dddd (plus any number of additional "d" characters) | Displays the full name of the day for the specified DateTime object. If a specific valid format provider (a non-null object that implements IFormatProvider with the expected property) is not supplied, then the DayNames property of the DateTimeFormat object and its current culture associated with the current thread is used. Otherwise, the DayNames property from the specified format provider is used. |
| f | Displays seconds fractions represented in one digit. Note that if the 'f' format specifier is used alone, without other custom format strings, it is interpreted as the full (long date + short time) format specifier. If the 'f' format specifier is passed with other custom format specifiers, it is interpreted as a custom format specifier. |
| ff | Displays seconds fractions represented in two digits. |
| fff | Displays seconds fractions represented in three digits. |
| ffff | Displays seconds fractions represented in four digits. |
| fffff | Displays seconds fractions represented in five digits. |
| ffffff | Displays seconds fractions represented in six digits. |
| fffffff | Displays seconds fractions represented in seven digits. |
| g or gg (plus any number of additional "g" characters) | Displays the era (A.D. for example) for the specified DateTime object. If a specific valid format provider (a non-null object that implements IFormatProvider with the expected property) is not supplied, then the era is determined from the calendar associated with the DateTimeFormat object and its current culture associated with the current thread. Note that if the 'g' format specifier is used alone, without other custom format strings, it is interpreted as the standard general format specifier. If the 'g' format specifier is passed with other custom format specifiers, it is interpreted as a custom format specifier. |
| h | Displays the hour for the specified DateTime object in the range 1-12. The hour represents whole hours passed since either midnight (displayed as 12) or noon (also displayed as 12). If this format is used alone, then the same hour before or after noon is indistinguishable. If the hour is a single digit (1-9), it is displayed as a single digit. No rounding occurs when displaying the hour. For example, a DateTime of 5:43 returns 5. |
| hh, hh (plus any number of additional "h" characters) | Displays the hour for the specified DateTime object in the range 1-12. The hour represents whole hours passed since either midnight (displayed as 12) or noon (also displayed as 12). If this format is used alone, then the same hour before or after noon is indistinguishable. If the hour is a single digit (1-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09). |
| H | Displays the hour for the specified DateTime object in the range 0-23. The hour represents whole hours passed since midnight (displayed as 0). If the hour is a single digit (0-9), it is displayed as a single digit. |
| HH, HH (plus any number of additional "H" characters) | Displays the hour for the specified DateTime object in the range 0-23. The hour represents whole hours passed since midnight (displayed as 0). If the hour is a single digit (0-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09). |
| m | Displays the minute for the specified DateTime object in the range 0-59. The minute represents whole minutes passed since the last hour. If the minute is a single digit (0-9), it is displayed as a single digit. Note that if the 'm' format specifier is used alone, without other custom format strings, it is interpreted as the standard month day pattern format specifier. If the 'm' format specifier is passed with other custom format specifiers, it is interpreted as a custom format specifier. |
| mm, mm (plus any number of additional "m" characters) | Displays the minute for the specified DateTime object in the range 0-59. The minute represents whole minutes passed since the last hour. If the minute is a single digit (0-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09). |
| M | Displays the current month, measured as a number between 1 and 12, inclusive. If the month is a single digit (1-9), it is displayed as a single digit. Note that if the 'M' format specifier is used alone, without other custom format strings, it is interpreted as the standard month day pattern format specifier. If the 'M' format specifier is passed with other custom format specifiers, it is interpreted as a custom format specifier. |
| MM | Displays the current month, measured as a number between 1 and 12, inclusive. If the month is a single digit (1-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09). |
| MMM | Displays the abbreviated name of the month for the specified DateTime object. If a specific valid format provider (a non-null object that implements IFormatProvider with the expected property) is not supplied, the AbbreviatedMonthNames property of the DateTimeFormat object and its current culture associated with the current thread is used. Otherwise, the AbbreviatedMonthNames property from the specified format provider is used. |
| MMMM | Displays the full name of the month for the specified DateTime object. If a specific valid format provider (a non-null object that implements IFormatProvider with the expected property) is not supplied, then the MonthNames property of the DateTimeFormat object and its current culture associated with the current thread is used. Otherwise, the MonthNames property from the specified format provider is used. |
| s | Displays the seconds for the specified DateTime object in the range 0-59. The second represents whole seconds passed since the last minute. If the second is a single digit (0-9), it is displayed as a single digit only. Note that if the 's' format specifier is used alone, without other custom format strings, it is interpreted as the standard sortable date/time pattern format specifier. If the 's' format specifier is passed with other custom format specifiers, it is interpreted as a custom format specifier. |
| ss, ss (plus any number of additional "s" characters) | Displays the seconds for the specified DateTime object in the range 0-59. The second represents whole seconds passed since the last minute. If the second is a single digit (0-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09). |
| t | Displays the first character of the A.M./P.M. designator for the specified DateTime object. If a specific valid format provider (a non-null object that implements IFormatProvider with the expected property) is not supplied, then the AMDesignator (or PMDesignator) property of the DateTimeFormat object and its current culture associated with the current thread is used. Otherwise, the AMDesignator (or PMDesignator) property from the specified IFormatProvider is used. If the total number of whole hours passed for the specified DateTime is less than 12, then the AMDesignator is used. Otherwise, the PMDesignator is used. Note that if the 't' format specifier is used alone, without other custom format strings, it is interpreted as the standard long time pattern format specifier. If the 't' format specifier is passed with other custom format specifiers, it is interpreted as a custom format specifier. |
| tt, tt (plus any number of additional "t" characters) | Displays the A.M./P.M. designator for the specified DateTime object. If a specific valid format provider (a non-null object that implements IFormatProvider with the expected property) is not supplied, then the AMDesignator (or PMDesignator) property of the DateTimeFormat object and its current culture associated with the current thread is used. Otherwise, the AMDesignator (or PMDesignator) property from the specified IFormatProvider is used. If the total number of whole hours passed for the specified DateTime is less than 12, then the AMDesignator is used. Otherwise, the PMDesignator is used. |
| y | Displays the year for the specified DateTime object as a maximum two-digit number. The first two digits of the year are omitted. If the year is a single digit (1-9), it is displayed as a single digit. |
| yy | Displays the year for the specified DateTime object as a maximum two-digit number. The first two digits of the year are omitted. If the year is a single digit (1-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09). |
| yyyy | Displays the year for the specified DateTime object, including the century. If the year is less than four digits in length, then preceding zeros are appended as necessary to make the displayed year four digits long. |
| z | Displays the time zone offset for the system's current time zone in whole hours only. The offset is always displayed with a leading or trailing sign (zero is displayed as '+0'), indicating hours ahead of Greenwich mean time (+) or hours behind Greenwich mean time (-). The range of values is –12 to +13. If the offset is a single digit (0-9), it is displayed as a single digit with the appropriate leading sign. The setting for the time zone is specified as +X or –X where X is the offset in hours from GMT. The displayed offset is affected by daylight time. |
| zz | Displays the time zone offset for the system's current time zone in whole hours only. The offset is always displayed with a leading or trailing sign (zero is displayed as '+00'), indicating hours ahead of Greenwich mean time (+) or hours behind Greenwich mean time (-). The range of values is –12 to +13. If the offset is a single digit (0-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09) with the appropriate leading sign. The setting for the time zone is specified as +X or –X where X is the offset in hours from GMT. The displayed offset is affected by daylight time. |
| zzz, zzz (plus any number of additional "z" characters) | Displays the time zone offset for the system's current time zone in hours and minutes. The offset is always displayed with a leading or trailing sign (zero is displayed as '+00:00'), indicating hours ahead of Greenwich mean time (+) or hours behind Greenwich mean time (-). The range of values is –12 to +13. If the offset is a single digit (0-9), it is formatted with a preceding 0 (01-09) with the appropriate leading sign. The setting for the time zone is specified as +X or –X where X is the offset in hours from GMT. The displayed offset is affected by daylight time. |
| : | Time separator. |
| / | Date separator. |
| " | Quoted string. Displays the literal value of any string between two quotation marks preceded by the escape character (/). |
| ' | Quoted string. Displays the literal value of any string between two " ' " characters. |
| %c | Where c is a standard format character, displays the standard format pattern associated with the format character. |
| \c | Where c is any character, the escape character displays the next character as a literal. The escape character cannot be used to create an escape sequence (like "\n" for new line) in this context. |
| | | Section separator. Custom date-time format can contain multiple format strings separated with ‘|’, This feature allows to specify multiple input formats for date-time values. Only the first format string is used to format value, convert date-time to string. Performing the inverse conversion (parsing) from string to date-time, a string will be recognized (parsed) if it satisfies one of the allowed formats. |
| Any other character | Other characters are written directly to the output string as literals. |
The following table displays examples using the custom date-time format specifiers:
| Format Specifiers | Current Culture | Time Zone | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| d, M | en-US | GMT | 12, 4 |
| d, M | es-MX | GMT | 12, 4 |
| d MMMM | en-US | GMT | 12 April |
| d MMMM | es-MX | GMT | 12 Abril |
| dddd MMMM yy gg | en-US | GMT | Thursday April 01 A.D. |
| dddd MMMM yy gg | es-MX | GMT | Jueves Abril 01 DC |
| h , m: s | En-US | GMT | 6 , 13: 12 |
| hh,mm:ss | En-US | GMT | 06,13:12 |
| HH-mm-ss-tt | En-US | GMT | 06-13-12-AM |
| hh:mm, G\MT z | En-US | GMT | 05:13 GMT +0 |
| hh:mm, G\MT z | En-US | GMT +10:00 | 05:13 GMT +10 |
| hh:mm, G\MT zzz | En-US | GMT | 05:13 GMT +00:00 |
| hh:mm, G\MT zzz | En-US | GMT –9:00 | 05:13 GMT -09:00 |
