PowerShell - Convert String in variable to Datetime format

Question

How do I convert a string date held in a variable to a datetime format.

The variable $stringdate contains the string '2020-04-10 09:15:30' when I run the commands (1) below I get the following error:

InvalidArgument: Cannot convert value "2020-04-10 09:15:30" to type "System.DateTime"`. 
Error: "String '2020-04-10 09:15:30' was not recognized as a valid DateTime."

If I run commands (2) with the string "2020-04-10 09:15:30" instead of the variable $stringdate it doesn't error and returns 10 April 2020 09:15:30??

#(1)

$date = $stringdate
    
[datetime]$date

# (2)
    
$date ="2020-04-10 09:15:30"
    
[datetime]$date

Given that $stringdate = '2020-04-10 09:15:30'; [datetime] $stringdate works fine, the implication is that the $stringdate read from a file contains something else - perhaps invisible control characters. — mklement0
– mklement0, Commented Jul 5, 2022 at 12:14
To put it differently: with the information currently contained in your question, the problem is not reproducible. — mklement0
– mklement0, Commented Jul 5, 2022 at 15:14

robni · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-05 11:59:23Z

1

You already wrote the cause for your issue in your question: You have a string not a Datetime. That is why you got an erorr. You must parse your string to a datetime object.

You can use ParseExact. If you want the format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss', try this:

$stringDate = "2020-04-10 09:15:30"
$dateTime = [datetime]::ParseExact($stringDate, 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss', $null)
echo $dateTime

Output:

Friday, 10. April 2020 09:15:30

For further information: ParseExact

edited Jul 5, 2022 at 11:59

answered Jul 5, 2022 at 10:50

robni

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4 Comments

Nivag Over a year ago

thanks that works but I want to convert the string '2020-04-10 09:15:30 in the variable $stringdate to be a datetime. is there a way to do something like $date = $stringDate $dateTime = [datetime]::ParseExact($date, 'yyyy-mm-dd HH:mm:ss', $null) [datetime]$dateTime without getting the error _ Exception calling "ParseExact" with "3" argument(s): "String '2020-04-10 09:15:30' was not recognized as a valid DateTime." _

Bernard Moeskops Over a year ago

@Nivag what you are doing is correct. However, you are parsing minutes instead of Months. Use a capital "M". So instead of "mm" use "MM".

robni Over a year ago

MM stands for month and mm for minutes.

mklement0 Over a year ago

While this works, there is no need for .ParseEact(): a simple [datetime] cast, as attempted in the question, is enough: $stringdate = '2020-04-10 09:15:30'; [datetime] $stringdate. Therefore, the problem must be that the $stringdate value read from a file either contains a different format or extraneous characters.

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