Convert String to DateTime in C# - String was not recognized as a valid DateTime

Question

I reviewed the question here: Convert string to datetime in C#.net

The format I'm trying to pass is only slightly different, but cannot get it to work.

My code:

var date = DateTime.ParseExact(@"28/06/2012 06:04:10 PM", @"dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt", null);

So then I tried the example code from the question mentioned above:

var date = DateTime.ParseExact(@"14/04/2010 10:14:49.PM", @"dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss.tt", null);

That doesn't work either. Both give me

System.FormatException
String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I assume this is some kind of localisation issue. What culture are you? Have you tried it with invariant culture stuff? — Chris
– Chris, Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 16:46

Chris · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-11 09:18:45Z

1

The problem is localisation.

Consider these three statements:

DateTime.ParseExact(@"14/04/2010 10:14:49.PM", @"dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss.tt", new CultureInfo("fr-fr"))
DateTime.ParseExact(@"14/04/2010 10:14:49.PM", @"dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss.tt", new CultureInfo("en"))
DateTime.ParseExact(@"14/04/2010 10:14:49.PM", @"dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss.tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)

The first will not work whereas the last two will. In this case it is because the PM is not valid in fr-fr. If you try this:

DateTime.ParseExact(@"14/04/2010 10:14:49.", @"dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss.tt", new CultureInfo("fr-fr"))

it will work fine.

As has been noted in comments other cultures may fail on other items. en-za uses a different date separator causing that to fail.

edited Mar 11, 2014 at 9:18

answered Mar 10, 2014 at 16:47

Chris

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2 Comments

Stephen Over a year ago

Thank you Chris! Seems to work if I use CultureInfo.InvariantCulture. Using CultureInfo.CurrentCulture breaks, which I don't understand. CurrentCulture is en-us. The 'PMDesignator' for en-us is set as 'PM', so why would this still fail? Same goes for en-za.

Chris Over a year ago

So if you do CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.Name it tells you it is en-us? That doesn't seem right since the above statements if used with explicitly en-us works for me. In the case of en-za it looks like it is probably the date separator that is causing problems though. Changing the / for - (culture.DateTimeFormat.DateSeparator) makes it work. This is why specifying the culture is so necessary.

Sajeetharan · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-10 16:46:53Z

0

var dateString = "28/06/2012 06:04:10 PM";
DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

answered Mar 10, 2014 at 16:46

Sajeetharan

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Comments

MarcinJuraszek · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-10 16:47:54Z

0

/ is date separator and probably in your culture it's not exactly /. The same issue can occur with :, which is replaced with current culture time separator. Try escaping both / and ::

var date = DateTime.ParseExact(@"28/06/2012 06:04:10 PM", @"dd\/MM\/yyyy hh\:mm\:ss tt", null);

answered Mar 10, 2014 at 16:47

MarcinJuraszek

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1 Comment

Stephen Over a year ago

Indeed, @Chris is correct. The PM designator doesn't seem to work on the current culture (en-us), whereas if I simply use InvariantCulture it works....

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