Question

I need to convert the following string into a better readable format:

NSString *deadlineFromTable = @"2012-11-13T22:59:00.000Z";

I would like to convert this into an NSDate, so I can format it.

I tried the following, but I get an incompatible pointer error assigning NSString to NSDate when I try to set it to a UILabel (the last line):

NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"dd-MM-yyyy"];

NSDate *dateFromString = [dateFormatter dateFromString:deadlineFromTable];
self.deadlineLbl.text = dateFromString;

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

You need two dateFormatters.

One to convert from your input string to a date and then one to convert from that date into the Label format you want.

You also need to change the format of the date formatter so it matches your string…

NSDateFormatter *dateStringParser = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateStringParser setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.Z"];

NSDate *date = [dateStringParser dateFromString:deadlineFromTable];

NSDateFormatter *labelFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[labelFormatter setDateFormat:@"dd-MM-yyyy"];

self.deadlineLbl.text = [labelFormatter stringFromDate:date];

That should do it.