Question

I tried to set NSDateFormatter for year, like this:

    NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy"];
NSLog(@"**> %@",[dateFormatter dateFromString:@"2012"]);
[dateFormatter release];

But it prints: **> 2011-12-31 22:00:00 +0000

Maybe someone could help me about this

Answer 1

This has to do with the timezone difference between UTC (GMT) and your time zone (you’re probably in GMT+2). NSDate is in UTC by default. That’s why [NSDate date] can deviate from the local time.

The following code should output Jan 1, 2012:

NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy zzz"];
NSLog(@"**> %@",[dateFormatter dateFromString:@"2012 GMT"]);
[dateFormatter release];

or

NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithName:@"UTC"]];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy"];
NSLog(@"NSDate : %@",[dateFormatter dateFromString:@"2012"]);
[dateFormatter release];