Question

I receive text from a *.csv file in any date format

For example: dd/mm/yy or dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy or 4 may 2010……

How I can convert to just a single type of format: dd/mm/yyyy ?

I’m working on C#, .NET 3.5, WinForms

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Check out TryParseExact.

public static string FormatDate(string input, string goalFormat, string[] formats)
{
    var c = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture;
    var s = DateTimeStyles.None;
    var result = default(DateTime);

    if (DateTime.TryParseExact(input, formats, c, s, out result))
        return result.ToString(goalFormat);

    throw new FormatException("Unhandled input format: " + input);
}

Example Usage

var formats - new[] { "dd/MM/yy", "dd/MM/yyyy" };
var next = csvReader.Get("DateField");
var formattedDate = FormatDate(next, "dd/MM/yyyy", formats);