get the date from string

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Posted on by Community Member Microsoft Employee

Hello,

I want to get the date from string, but for every regional setting.

i.e the setting may be dd/mm/yyyy or mm.dd.yyyy or yy.mm.dd - each of them can be represented as string, but I don't know what is the regional setting, and still want to convert from any of above (of the current setting).

How can I do that?

Thanks :)

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Simon Buxton 130 on at

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RE: get the date from string

You could use the code:

FromDate fromDate;

FromDate fromDate;

utcDateTime utcDate;

fromDate = System.DateTime::Parse("01/12/2014");

utcDate = System.DateTime::Parse("01/12/2014");

If you are going to work with the string version of the string, you should store the cultureInfo also (e.g. dd/MM/yyyy) or the actual date value.

For example

System.Globalization.CultureInfo cultureInfo;

System.Globalization.DateTimeFormatInfo dateTimeFormatInfo;

cultureInfo = System.Globalization.CultureInfo::get_CurrentCulture();

dateTimeFormatInfo = cultureInfo.get_DateTimeFormat();

info(dateTimeFormatInfo.get_ShortDatePattern());

Just be careful about how the data is presented to users in different time zones, as this type of coding is not normally done.

Regards,
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Bashir Ahmad 5,248 on at

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RE: get the date from string

in this case a little work around required.

1. first we need to convert string to any of date formate: date str2Date(str _text, str _sequence)

then that date return from above function date str2Date we can get the required digits Day, month or year of that date.

//Get day from date

dayOfMth(str2Date(str _text, str _sequence))

//Get month from date

mthOfYr(str2Date(str _text, str _sequence))

//Get year from date

year(str2Date(str _text, str _sequence))

sorry in your case sequence is the issue :(
André Arnaud de Cal... 291,391 Super User 2024 Season 2 on at

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RE: get the date from string

For all solutions: The problem remains like Martin mentioned:

01-02-2014 how to determine if the first column is the day or month...

If you get a date from somewhere, the source and thus the format should be available...
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Bashir Ahmad 5,248 on at

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RE: get the date from string

The date and time can be different on the client and the server.

You will not typically need to format a date to a string. Use date fields, variables, and date controls on forms and reports instead.

If you need to format a date to a string:

For user interface situations, use strFmt or date2Str with -1 in all the formatting parameters. This ensures that the date is formatted in the way that the user has specified in Regional Settings.

For other specific system-related situations, such as communication with external systems, use date2Str.

When you let Regional Settings dictate the format, be aware that it can change from user to user and might not be a suitable format for external communication.

Using str2Date indicates that dates are being used that have had a string format.
Community Member Microsoft Employee on at

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RE: get the date from string

Hi,

maybe you can use the .NET class CultureInfo and DateTimeFormatInfo (property of CultureInfo) to determine which format to use.

There is a property named CultureInfo.CurrentCulture to determine which is the currently use culture.

Greetings

Nils

Edit: jonathan was faster :-)
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keoma 32,675 on at

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RE: get the date from string

hi,

you can use .net libs.

string strDate = "10/15/2014";

System.Globalization.CultureInfo cultureInfo = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US");

string dateFormat = cultureInfo.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern;

System.DateTime date = DateTime.Parse(strDate, cultureInfo);

cultureInfo = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("de-DE");

dateFormat = cultureInfo.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern;

date = DateTime.Parse(strDate, cultureInfo);

follow stackoverflow.com/.../weekofyear-in-x-using-net-lib
Martin Dráb 230,445 Most Valuable Professional on at

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RE: get the date from string

If you don't know which format to use, the task generally can't be done. For example, you can't tell whether 01/02/2014 means 1st February or 2nd January. You need to know the format.