Converting NSString to NSDate and back again

Question

How would I convert an NSString like  01 02 10   meaning 1st February 2010  into an NSDate  And how could I turn the NSDate back into a string

User · Answer

As per Swift 2 2  You can get easily NSDate from String and String from NSDate  e g   First set date formatter  let formatter   NSDateFormatter    formatter dateStyle   NSDateFormatterStyle MediumStyle formatter timeStyle    NoStyle formatter dateFormat    MM dd yyyy    Now get date from string and vice versa   let strDate   formatter stringFromDate NSDate    print strDate  let dateFromStr   formatter dateFromString strDate  print dateFromStr    Now enjoy

User · Answer

Date to NSString  NSString  dateString    NSString stringWithFormat        NSDate date    NSLog   string      dateString      2015-03-24 12 28 49  0000   NSString to NSDate  NSDateFormatter  formatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init    formatter setDateFormat   yyyy-MM-dd HH mm ss Z    NSDate  date    formatter dateFromString dateString   NSLog   date       date     015-03-24 12 28 49  0000

User · Answer

You can use extensions for this   extension NSDate         NSString to NSDate     convenience     init dateString String            let nsDateFormatter   NSDateFormatter           nsDateFormatter dateFormat    yyyy-MM-dd hh mm ss             Add the locale if required here         let dateObj   nsDateFormatter dateFromString dateString          self init timeInterval 0  sinceDate dateObj                NSDate to time string     func getTime   - gt  String           let timeFormatter   NSDateFormatter           timeFormatter dateFormat    hh mm            Can also set the default styles for date or time using  timeStyle or  dateStyle         return timeFormatter stringFromDate self               NSDate to date string     func getDate   - gt  String           let dateFormatter   NSDateFormatter           dateFormatter dateFormat    dd  MMM          return dateFormatter stringFromDate self               NSDate to String     func getString   - gt  String           let dateFormatter   NSDateFormatter           dateFormatter dateFormat    yyyy-MM-dd hh mm ss          return dateFormatter stringFromDate self            So while execution actual code will look like follows      var dateObjFromString   NSDate dateString  cutDateTime      var dateString   dateObjFromString getDate       var timeString   dateObjFromString getTime       var stringFromDate   dateObjFromString getString     There are some defaults methods as well but I guess it might not work for the format you have given from documentation      -dateFromString         -stringFromDate         -localizedStringFromDate   date  NSDate                       dateStyle dateStyle  NSDateFormatterStyle                       timeStyle timeStyle  NSDateFormatterStyle  - gt  String

User · Answer

Swift 4 and later  Updated  2018  String to Date  var dateString    02-03-2017  var dateFormatter   DateFormatter       This is important - we set our input date format to match our input string    if the format doesn t match you ll get nil from your string  so be careful dateFormatter dateFormat    dd-MM-yyyy      date from    returns an optional so make sure you unwrap when using   var dateFromString  Date    dateFormatter date from  dateString    Date to String  var formatter   DateFormatter   formatter dateFormat    dd-MM-yyyy  guard let unwrappedDate   dateFromString else   return      Using the dateFromString variable from before   let stringDate  String   formatter string from  dateFromString    Swift 3  Updated  20th July 2017  String to NSDate  var dateString    02-03-2017  var dateFormatter   DateFormatter      This is important - we set our input date format to match our input string    if the format doesn t match you ll get nil from your string  so be careful dateFormatter dateFormat    dd-MM-yyyy  var dateFromString   dateFormatter date from  dateString    NSDate to String  var formatter   DateFormatter   formatter dateFormat    dd-MM-yyyy  let stringDate  String   formatter string from  dateFromString      Swift  Updated  22nd October 2015  String to NSDate  var dateString    01-02-2010  var dateFormatter   NSDateFormatter      this is imporant - we set our input date format to match our input string dateFormatter dateFormat    dd-MM-yyyy     voila  var dateFromString   dateFormatter dateFromString dateString    NSDate to String  var formatter   NSDateFormatter   formatter dateFormat    dd-MM-yyyy  let stringDate  String   formatter stringFromDate NSDate    println stringDate      Objective-C  NSString to NSDate  NSString  dateString     01-02-2010   NSDateFormatter  dateFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init    dateFormatter setDateFormat   dd-MM-yyyy    NSDate  dateFromString    dateFormatter dateFromString dateString     NSDate convert to NSString   NSDateFormatter  dateFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init    dateFormatter setDateFormat   dd-MM-yyyy    NSString  stringDate    dateFormatter stringFromDate  NSDate date    NSLog        stringDate

User · Answer

The above examples aren t simply written for Swift 3 0   Update - Swift 3 0  - Convert Date To String   let date   Date      insert your date data here var dateFormatter   DateFormatter   dateFormatter dateFormat    yyyy-MM-dd     add custom format if you d like  var dateString   dateFormatter string from  date

User · Answer

Convert string to date   NSDateFormatter  dateFormat     NSDateFormatter alloc  init    dateFormat setDateFormat   yyyyMMdd    NSDate  date    dateFormat dateFromString dateStr         Convert Date to string   dateFormat setDateFormat   EEEE MMMM d  YYYY    dateStr    dateFormat stringFromDate date      dateFormat release

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When using fixed-format dates you need to set the date formatter locale to  en US POSIX    Taken from the Data Formatting Guide     If you re working with fixed-format dates  you should first set the   locale of the date formatter to something appropriate for your fixed   format  In most cases the best locale to choose is en US POSIX  a   locale that s specifically designed to yield US English results   regardless of both user and system preferences  en US POSIX is also   invariant in time  if the US  at some point in the future  changes the   way it formats dates  en US will change to reflect the new behavior    but en US POSIX will not   and between platforms  en US POSIX works   the same on iPhone OS as it does on OS X  and as it does on other   platforms     Swift 3 or later  extension Formatter       static let customDate  DateFormatter             let formatter   DateFormatter           formatter locale   Locale identifier   en US POSIX           formatter dateFormat    dd MM yy          return formatter             static let time  DateFormatter             let formatter   DateFormatter           formatter locale   Locale identifier   en US POSIX           formatter dateFormat    HH mm          return formatter             static let weekdayName  DateFormatter             let formatter   DateFormatter           formatter dateFormat    cccc          return formatter             static let month  DateFormatter             let formatter   DateFormatter           formatter dateFormat    LLLL          return formatter               extension Date       var customDate  String           return Formatter customDate string from  self            var customTime  String           return Formatter time string from  self            var weekdayName  String           return Formatter weekdayName string from  self            var monthName  String           return Formatter month string from  self           extension String       var customDate  Date            return Formatter customDate date from  self              usage      this will be displayed like this regardless of the user and system preferences Date   customTime               16 50  Date   customDate               06 05 17     this will be displayed according to user and system preferences Date   weekdayName              Saturday  Date   monthName                May      Parsing the custom date and converting the date back to the same string format   let dateString    01 02 10   if let date   dateString customDate       print date customDate        01 02 10 n      print date monthName        customDate     Here it is all elements you can use to customize it as necessary

User · Answer

NSString to NSDate or NSDate to NSString    This method is used to get NSDate from string    Pass the date formate ex- dd-MM-yyyy hh mm a     NSDate  getDateFromString  NSString   dateString withFormate  NSString   formate            Converted date from date string     NSDateFormatter  dateFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init        dateFormatter setLocale   NSLocale alloc  initWithLocaleIdentifier   en US          dateFormatter setDateFormat formate       NSDate  convertedDate            dateFormatter dateFromString dateString       return convertedDate       This method is used to get the NSString for NSDate   Pass the date formate ex- dd-MM-yyyy hh mm a     NSString   getDateStringFromDate  NSDate   date withFormate  NSString   formate           Converted date from date string     NSDateFormatter  dateFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init          dateFormatter setLocale   NSLocale alloc  initWithLocaleIdentifier   en US          dateFormatter setDateFormat formate       NSString  convertedDate            dateFormatter stringFromDate date       return convertedDate

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NSString  mystr   Your string date    NSCalendar  cal    NSCalendar currentCalendar   NSDate  now    dateFormatter dateFromString mystr    Nslog       now     If you want set the format use below code   NSString  dateString     01-02-2010   NSDateFormatter  dateFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init       this is important - we set our input date format to match our input string    if format doesn t match you ll get nil from your string  so be careful  dateFormatter setDateFormat   dd-MM-yyyy    NSDate  dateFromString     NSDate alloc  init       voila  dateFromString    dateFormatter dateFromString dateString   Nslog        dateFormatter dateFromString dateString

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If anyone is interested in doing something like this in Swift these days  I have a start on something  although it s not perfect   func detectDate dateString  NSString  - gt  NSDate        var error  NSError      let detector  NSDataDetector   NSDataDetector dataDetectorWithTypes NSTextCheckingType Date toRaw    error   amp error        if error    nil           var matches   detector matchesInString dateString  options  nil  range  NSMakeRange 0  dateString length            let currentLocale   NSLocale currentLocale           for match in matches               match resultType    NSTextCheckingType Date             NSLog  Date    match date description                return match date                     return NSDate

User · Answer

String To Date  var dateFormatter   DateFormatter   dateFormatter format    dd MM yyyy   var dateFromString  Date    dateFormatter date from  dateString    pass string here   Date To String   var dateFormatter   DateFormatter    dateFormatter dateFormat    dd-MM-yyyy   let newDate   dateFormatter string from  date    pass Date here

User · Answer

Why not add a category to NSString      NSString Date h  interface NSString  Date     NSDate  stringDateFromString  NSString  string     NSString  stringDateFromDate  NSDate  date   end      NSString Date m NSDateFormatter  dateFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc init    dateFormatter setDateFormat   EEE  dd MMM yyyy HH mm ss ZZZ     NSDate  date    dateFormatter dateFromString stringDate     dateFormatter release      NSDateFormatter  stringDateFormatter       static NSDateFormatter  formatter   nil      if  formatter    nil                formatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init            formatter setDateFormat   EEE  dd MMM yyyy HH mm ss ZZZ                 return formatter        NSDate  stringDateFromString  NSString  string       return   NSString stringDateFormatter  dateFromString string         NSString  stringDateFromDate  NSDate  date       return   NSString stringDateFormatter  stringFromDate date          Usage   import  NSString Date h   or add in  YOUR PROJECT  pch file NSString  string    NSString stringDateFromDate  NSDate date    NSDate  date    NSString stringDateFromString string

User · Answer

Use this method to convert from NSString to NSdate   - NSDate   getDateFromString  NSString   pstrDate       NSDateFormatter  myFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init        myFormatter setDateFormat   dd MM yyyy        NSDate  myDate    myFormatter dateFromString pstrDate       return myDate

User · Answer

UPDATE 2019  Swift 4    Made a Date extension for that  It uses NSDataDetector instead of NSDateFormatter      Just throw at it without any format  var date  Date    Date FromString  02-14-2019 17 05 05     Pretty enjoyable  it even recognizes things like  Tomorrow at 5    XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  2019-02-14                       Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  2019 02 14                       Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  2019 02 14                       Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  2019 Feb 14                      Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  2019 Feb 14th                    Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  20190214                         Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  02-14-2019                       Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  02 14 2019 5 00 PM               Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14  17   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  02 14 2019 17 00                 Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14  17   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  14 February 2019 at 5 hour       Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14  17   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  02-14-2019 17 05 05              Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14  17  05  05   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  17 05  14 February 2019  UTC     Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14  17  05   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  02-14-2019 17 05 05 GMT          Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14  17  05  05   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  02-13-2019 Tomorrow              Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14   XCTAssertEqual Date FromString  2019 Feb 14th Tomorrow at 5      Date FromCalendar 2019  2  14  17     Goes like   extension Date         public static func FromString   dateString  String  - gt  Date                   Date detector          let detector   try  NSDataDetector types  NSTextCheckingResult CheckingType date rawValue              Enumerate matches          var matchedDate  Date          var matchedTimeZone  TimeZone          detector enumerateMatches              in  dateString              options                  range  NSRange location  0  length  dateString utf16 count               using                                 eachResult        in                     Lookup matches                  matchedDate   eachResult  date                 matchedTimeZone   eachResult  timeZone                     Convert to GMT     if no timezone detected                  if matchedTimeZone    nil  let detectedDate   matchedDate                   matchedDate   Calendar current date byAdding   second  value  TimeZone current secondsFromGMT    to  detectedDate                            Result          return matchedDate             UPDATE 2014   Made an NSString extension for that      Simple as this     date   dateString dateValue    Thanks to NSDataDetector  it recognizes a whole lot of format    2014-01-16  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   2014 01 16  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   2014 01 16  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   2014 Jan 16  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   2014 Jan 16th  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   20140116  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   01-16-2014  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   01 16 2014  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   01 16 2014  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   16 January 2014  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 11 00 00  0000 gt   01-16-2014 17 05 05  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 16 05 05  0000 gt   01-16-2014 T 17 05 05 UTC  dateValue is  lt 2014-01-16 17 05 05  0000 gt   17 05  1 January 2014  UTC   dateValue is  lt 2014-01-01 16 05 00  0000 gt    Part of eppz kit  grab the category NSString EPPZKit h from GitHub     ORIGINAL ANSWER 2013   Whether you re not sure  or don t care  about the date format contained in the string  use NSDataDetector for parsing date     Role players  NSString  dateString     Wed  03 Jul 2013 02 16 02 -0700     block NSDate  detectedDate     Detect  NSDataDetector  detector    NSDataDetector dataDetectorWithTypes NSTextCheckingAllTypes error nil    detector enumerateMatchesInString dateString                            options kNilOptions                              range NSMakeRange 0   dateString length                           usingBlock   NSTextCheckingResult  result  NSMatchingFlags flags  BOOL  stop    detectedDate   result date

User · Answer

NSString  dateStr     Tue  25 May 2010 12 53 58  0000       Convert string to date object NSDateFormatter  dateFormat     NSDateFormatter alloc  init    dateFormat setDateFormat   EE  d LLLL yyyy HH mm ss Z    NSDate  date    dateFormat dateFromString dateStr     dateFormat release

User · Answer

Best practice is to build yourself a general class where you put all your general use methods  methods useful in almost all projects and there add the code suggested by  Pavan as      NSDate   getDateOutOfString  NSString   passedString andDateFormat  NSString   dateFormat       NSString  dateString   passedString      NSDateFormatter  dateFormatter     NSDateFormatter alloc  init        dateFormatter setDateFormat dateFormat       NSDate  dateFromString     NSDate alloc  init       dateFromString    dateFormatter dateFromString dateString       return dateFromString          and so on for all other useful methods   By doing so you start building a clean reusable code for you app  Cheers

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using  10  for representing a year is not good  because it can be 1910  1810  etc  You probably should use 4 digits for that   If you can change the date to something like  yyyymmdd   Then you can use      Convert string to date object NSDateFormatter  dateFormat     NSDateFormatter alloc  init    dateFormat setDateFormat   yyyyMMdd    NSDate  date    dateFormat dateFromString dateStr         Convert date object to desired output format  dateFormat setDateFormat   EEEE MMMM d  YYYY    dateStr    dateFormat stringFromDate date      dateFormat release

[ios] Converting NSString to NSDate (and back again)

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