| Description |
The ToString method concerts the current DateTime value into a string representation.
By default, with no parameters, it is equivalent to ToString('G') - 'General' formatting is carried.
The Formatting string (or array of strings) provides the desired formatting of the date/time string. This formatting string may be of two types :
1. A single formatting style character :
| d | Short Date, such as : 24/08/2004 |
| D | Long date, such as 24 August 2004 |
| t | Short time, such as 12:23 |
| T | Long time, such as 12:23:45 |
| f | Full datetime, such as 24 August 2004 12:23 |
| F | Full datetime, such as 24 August 2004 12:23:45 |
| g | General datetime, such as 24/08/2004 12:23 |
| G | General datetime, such as 24/08/2004 12:23:45 |
| M or m | Month, such as 24 August |
| R or r | Culture independant, such as Tue 24 August 2004 12:23:45 GMT |
| s | Sortable datetime, such as 2004-08-24T12:23:45 |
| u | Universal sortable datetime |
| Y or y | Year plus month, such as August 2004 |
2. A formatting string
Use a combination of the following to build the format you want (see the example code). If, for example, you just want to use 'd' on its onw, then you must prefix it by % to distinguish from the single character 'd'.
| d | Numeric day of the month with no leading 0 |
| dd | Numeric day of the month with leading 0 |
| ddd | Abbreviated day of the month |
| dddd | Full name of the day of the week |
| M | Numeric Month with no leading 0 |
| MM | Numeric Month number with leading 0 |
| MMM | Abbreviated month name |
| MMMM | Full month name |
| y | Numeric year without century and no leading 0 |
| yy | Numeric year without century andleading 0 |
| yyyy | Numeric year in 4 digits |
| gg | Period or era |
| h | Numeric hour with no leading 0 |
| hh | Numeric hour with leading 0 |
| H | Numeric 24 hour clock hour with no leading 0 |
| HH | Numeric 25=4 hour clock hour with leading 0 |
| m | Numeric minute with no leading 0 |
| mm | Numeric minute with leading 0 |
| s | Numeric second with no leading 0 |
| ss | Numeric second with leading 0 |
| f | Fraction of a second to 1 decimal place |
| ff | Fraction of a second to 2 decimal places |
| fff | Fraction of a second to 3 decimal places |
| ffff | Fraction of a second to 4 decimal places |
| fffff | Fraction of a second to 5 decimal places |
| ffffff | Fraction of a second to 6 decimal places |
| fffffff | Fraction of a second to 7 decimal places |
| t | The first am/pm designator character |
| tt | The full am/pm designator characters |
| z | The time zone offest (+/- hour) no leading 0 |
| zz | The time zone offest (+/- hour) with leading 0 |
| zzz | The time zone offest (+/- hour) with leading 0's |
| : | Default time separator |
| / | Default date separator |
The FormatProvider parameter determines the parsing rules and is beyond the scope of this article.
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| | Notes | ToString without parameters is a method inherited from the base System.Object (TObject) class. It provides a ready method for classes to convert their content into a string format.
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| Microsoft MSDN Links |
System
System.DateTime
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| Examples of single character and multiple character formatting |
program Project1;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
var
when : DateTime;
begin
// 8:03:02 on 3rd September 2004
when := DateTime.Create(2004, 9, 3, 8, 3, 2, 123);
Console.WriteLine('1. Single character formatting :');
Console.WriteLine;
Console.WriteLine('d : Short Date : ' + when.ToString('d'));
Console.WriteLine('D : Long Date : ' + when.ToString('D'));
Console.WriteLine('t : Short Time : ' + when.ToString('t'));
Console.WriteLine('T : Long Time : ' + when.ToString('T'));
Console.WriteLine('f : Full date : ' + when.ToString('f'));
Console.WriteLine('F : Long full date : ' + when.ToString('F'));
Console.WriteLine('g : General : ' + when.ToString('g'));
Console.WriteLine('G : Long general : ' + when.ToString('G'));
Console.WriteLine('M : Month : ' + when.ToString('M'));
Console.WriteLine('R : RFC1123 : ' + when.ToString('R'));
Console.WriteLine('s : Sortable : ' + when.ToString('s'));
Console.WriteLine('u : Universal sort : ' + when.ToString('u'));
Console.WriteLine('Y : Year : ' + when.ToString('Y'));
Console.WriteLine;
Console.WriteLine('2. Multiple character formatting :');
Console.WriteLine;
Console.WriteLine('d/M/y : ' + when.ToString('d/M/y'));
Console.WriteLine('dd MM yy : ' + when.ToString('dd MM yy'));
Console.WriteLine('ddd MMM yyyy : ' + when.ToString('ddd MMM yyyy'));
Console.WriteLine('dddd MMMM yyyy gg : ' + when.ToString('dddd MMMM yyyy gg'));
Console.WriteLine('h:m:s : ' + when.ToString('h:m:s'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss.f : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss.f'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss.ff : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss.ff'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss.fff : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss.fff'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss.ffff : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss.ffff'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss.fffff : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss.fffff'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss.ffffff : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss.ffffff'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss.fffffff : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss.fffffff'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss t : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss t'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss tt : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss tt'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss z : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss z'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss zz : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss zz'));
Console.WriteLine('hh:mm:ss zzz : ' + when.ToString('hh:mm:ss zzz'));
Console.ReadLine;
end.
| | Show full unit code | 1. Single character formatting :
d : Short Date : 03/09/2004
D : Long Date : 03 September 2004
t : Short Time : 08:03
T : Long Time : 08:03:02
f : Full date : 03 September 2004 08:03
F : Long full date : 03 September 2004 08:03:02
g : General : 03/09/2004 08:03
G : Long general : 03/09/2004 08:03:02
M : Month : 03 September
R : RFC1123 : Fri, 03 Sep 2004 08:03:02 GMT
s : Sortable : 2004-09-03T08:03:02
u : Universal sort : 2004-09-03 08:03:02Z
Y : Year : September 2004
2. Multiple character formatting :
d/M/y : 3/9/4
dd MM yy : 03 09 04
ddd MMM yyyy : Fri Sep 2004
dddd MMMM yyyy gg : Friday September 2004 A.D.
h:m:s : 8:3:2
hh:mm:ss : 08:03:02
hh:mm:ss : 08:03:02
hh:mm:ss.f : 08:03:02.1
hh:mm:ss.ff : 08:03:02.12
hh:mm:ss.fff : 08:03:02.123
hh:mm:ss.ffff : 08:03:02.1230
hh:mm:ss.fffff : 08:03:02.12300
hh:mm:ss.ffffff : 08:03:02.123000
hh:mm:ss.fffffff : 08:03:02.1230000
hh:mm:ss t : 08:03:02 A
hh:mm:ss tt : 08:03:02 AM
hh:mm:ss z : 08:03:02 +1
hh:mm:ss zz : 08:03:02 +01
hh:mm:ss zzz : 08:03:02 +01:00
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