[c#] Convert dateTime to ISO format yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss in C#

Is there a standard way in .NET/C# to convert a datetime object to ISO 8601 format yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss?

Or do I need to do some string manipulation to get the date string?

For those who are using this format all the timme like me I did an extension method. I just wanted to share because I think it can be usefull to you.

     /// <summary>
    /// Convert a date to a human readable ISO datetime format. ie. 2012-12-12 23:01:12
    /// this method must be put in a static class. This will appear as an available function
    /// on every datetime objects if your static class namespace is declared.
    /// </summary>
    public static string ToIsoReadable(this DateTime dateTime)
    {
        return dateTime.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH':'mm':'ss");
    }

The DateTime::ToString() method has a string formatter that can be used to output datetime in any required format. See DateTime.ToString Method (String) for more information.

date.ToString("o") // The Round-trip ("O", "o") Format Specifier
date.ToString("s") // The Sortable ("s") Format Specifier, conforming to ISO86801

MSDN Standard Date and Time Format Strings

To use the strict ISO8601, you can use the s (Sortable) format string:

 myDate.ToString("s"); // example 2009-06-15T13:45:30

It's a short-hand to this custom format string:

myDate.ToString("yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss");

And of course, you can build your own custom format strings.

More info:

• Standard Date and Time format strings
• Custom Date and Time Format Strings

To add a little bit more information that confused me; I had always thought the same result could be achieved like so;

theDate.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss")

However, If your Current Culture doesn't use a colon(:) as the hour separator, and instead uses a full-stop(.) it could return as follow:

2009-06-15 13.45.30

Just wanted to add why the answer provided needs to be as it is;

theDate.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH':'mm':'ss")

:-)