Question

I have this string: 2012-01-12T21:01:00 and this code:

    NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [df setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss a"];
    NSDate* arrivalTime=[df dateFromString:field_arrival_time];

But it returns nil. What date format should I use to parse this string?

Answer 1

Your string 2012-01-12T21:01:00 contains the literal T (At least I believe it’s a literal, it doesn’t appear to signify a timezone). You must include this in your date format.

[df setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'hh:mm:ss"];

Note the lack of the a in the date format, using it will require your input string to use AM or PM preceded by a white space. For more information on special characters with NSDateFormatter take a look at the Date Formatting Guide paying extra attention to the Fixed Formats.

Edit: Your input string does not specify a timezone, it will probably be interpreted as UTC and be localized to the timezone of your machine when you output it through NSLog().