[c#] Convert time span value to format "hh:mm Am/Pm" using C#

I have a value stored in variable of type System.TimeSpan as follows.

System.TimeSpan storedTime = 03:00:00;

Can I re-store it in another variable of type String as follows?

String displayValue = "03:00 AM";

And if storedTime variable has the value of

storedTime = 16:00:00;

then it should be converted to:

String displayValue = "04:00 PM";

You will need to get a DateTime object from your TimeSpan and then you can format it easily.

One possible solution is adding the timespan to any date with zero time value.

var timespan = new TimeSpan(3, 0, 0);
var output = new DateTime().Add(timespan).ToString("hh:mm tt");

The output value will be "03:00 AM" (for english locale).

string displayValue="03:00 AM";

This is a point in time , not a duration (TimeSpan).

So something is wrong with your basic design or assumptions.

If you do want to use it, you'll have to convert it to a DateTime (point in time) first. You can format a DateTime without the date part, that would be your desired string.

TimeSpan t1 = ...;
DateTime d1 = DateTime.Today + t1;               // any date will do
string result = d1.ToString("hh:mm:ss tt");

storeTime variable can have value like
storeTime=16:00:00;

No, it can have a value of 4 o'clock but the representation is binary, a TimeSpan cannot record the difference between 16:00 and 4 pm.

At first, you need to convert time span to DateTime structure:

var dt = new DateTime(2000, 12, 1, timeSpan.Hours, timeSpan.Minutes, timeSpan.Seconds)

Then you need to convert the value to string with Short Time format

var result = dt.ToString("t"); // Convert to string using Short Time format

You cannot add AM / PM to a TimeSpan. You'll anyway have to associate the TimaSpan value with DateTime if you want to display the time in 12-hour clock format.

TimeSpan is not intended to use with a 12-hour clock format, because we are talking about a time interval here.

As it says in the documentation;

A TimeSpan object represents a time interval (duration of time or elapsed time) that is measured as a positive or negative number of days, hours, minutes, seconds, and fractions of a second. The TimeSpan structure can also be used to represent the time of day, but only if the time is unrelated to a particular date. Otherwise, the DateTime or DateTimeOffset structure should be used instead.

Also Microsoft Docs describes as follows;

A TimeSpan value can be represented as [-]d.hh:mm:ss.ff, where the optional minus sign indicates a negative time interval, the d component is days, hh is hours as measured on a 24-hour clock, mm is minutes, ss is seconds, and ff is fractions of a second.

So in this case, you can display using AM/PM as follows.

TimeSpan storedTime = new TimeSpan(03,00,00);
string displayValue = new DateTime().Add(storedTime).ToString("hh:mm tt");

Side note :
Also should note that the TimeOfDay property of DateTime is a TimeSpan, where it represents

a time interval that represents the fraction of the day that has elapsed since midnight.

You can add the TimeSpan to a DateTime, for example:

TimeSpan span = TimeSpan.FromHours(16);
DateTime time = DateTime.Today + span;
String result = time.ToString("hh:mm tt");

Demo: http://ideone.com/veJ6tT

04:00 PM

Standard Date and Time Format Strings

You can try this:

   string timeexample= string.Format("{0:hh:mm:ss tt}", DateTime.Now);

you can remove hh or mm or ss or tt according your need where hh is hour in 12 hr formate, mm is minutes,ss is seconds,and tt is AM/PM.

Doing some piggybacking off existing answers here:

public static string ToShortTimeSafe(this TimeSpan timeSpan)
{
    return new DateTime().Add(timeSpan).ToShortTimeString();
} 

public static string ToShortTimeSafe(this TimeSpan? timeSpan)
{
    return timeSpan == null ? string.Empty : timeSpan.Value.ToShortTimeSafe();
}

Parse timespan to DateTime. For Example.    
//The time will be "8.30 AM" or "10.00 PM" or any time like this format.
    public TimeSpan GetTimeSpanValue(string displayValue) 
        {   
            DateTime dateTime = DateTime.Now;
                if (displayValue.StartsWith("10") || displayValue.StartsWith("11") || displayValue.StartsWith("12"))
                          dateTime = DateTime.ParseExact(displayValue, "hh:mm tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
                    else
                          dateTime = DateTime.ParseExact(displayValue, "h:mm tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
                    return dateTime.TimeOfDay;
                }

Very simple by using the string format

on .ToSTring("") :

• if you use "hh" ->> The hour, using a 12-hour clock from 01 to 12.

• if you use "HH" ->> The hour, using a 24-hour clock from 00 to 23.

• if you add "tt" ->> The Am/Pm designator.

exemple converting from 23:12 to 11:12 Pm :

DateTime d = new DateTime(1, 1, 1, 23, 12, 0);
var res = d.ToString("hh:mm tt");   // this show  11:12 Pm
var res2 = d.ToString("HH:mm");  // this show  23:12

Console.WriteLine(res);
Console.WriteLine(res2);

Console.Read();

wait a second that is not all you need to care about something else is the system Culture because the same code executed on windows with other langage especialy with difrent culture langage will generate difrent result with the same code

exemple of windows set to Arabic langage culture will show like that :

// 23:12 ?

? means Evening (first leter of ????) .

in another system culture depend on what is set on the windows regional and language option, it will show // 23:12 du.

you can change between different format on windows control panel under windows regional and language -> current format (combobox) and change... apply it do a rebuild (execute) of your app and watch what iam talking about.

so who can I force showing Am and Pm Words in English event if the culture of the current system isn't set to English ?

easy just by adding two lines : ->

the first step add using System.Globalization; on top of your code

and modifing the Previous code to be like this :

DateTime d = new DateTime(1, 1, 1, 23, 12, 0);
var res = d.ToString("HH:mm tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture); // this show  11:12 Pm

InvariantCulture => using default English Format.

another question I want to have the pm to be in Arabic or specific language, even if I use windows set to English (or other language) regional format?

Soution for Arabic Exemple :

DateTime d = new DateTime(1, 1, 1, 23, 12, 0);
var res = d.ToString("HH:mm tt", CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("ar-AE")); 

this will show // 23:12 ?

event if my system is set to an English region format. you can change "ar-AE" if you want to another language format. there is a list of each language and its format.

exemples : ar ar-SA Arabic ar-BH ar-BH Arabic (Bahrain) ar-DZ ar-DZ Arabic (Algeria) ar-EG ar-EG Arabic (Egypt)

Parse timespan to DateTime and then use Format ("hh:mm:tt"). For example.

TimeSpan ts = new TimeSpan(16, 00, 00);
DateTime dtTemp = DateTime.ParseExact(ts.ToString(), "HH:mm:ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
string str = dtTemp.ToString("hh:mm tt");

str will be:

str = "04:00 PM"