How to handle different date time formats using NSDateFormatter

Question

I have a String with a datetime format: \"YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS\".

I use this in my source code:

NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc]         


        

Answer 1

Here are a few examples of working with data formatters from my code. You should be able to take any one of these functions and tweak it for your format.

USAGE

NSDate *today = [NSDate date];
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [Constants getTitleDateFormatter];
NSString *dateString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:today];        
[dateFormatter release];

FUNCTIONS

+ (NSDateFormatter *) getDateFormatterWithTimeZone {
  //Returns the following information in the format of the locale:
  //YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm:ss z (Z is time zone)
  NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
  [dateFormatter setLocale:[NSLocale currentLocale]];
  [dateFormatter setDateStyle:NSDateFormatterShortStyle];
  [dateFormatter setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterLongStyle];
  return dateFormatter;

}

+ (NSDateFormatter *)dateFormatterWithoutYear {
  NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [Constants getDateFormatterWithTimeZone];
  [dateFormatter setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterShortStyle];
  NSString *format = [dateFormatter dateFormat];
  format = [format stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"/yy" withString:@""];
  NSRange secondSpace;
  secondSpace.location = format.length-2;
  secondSpace.length = 1;
  format = [format stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:secondSpace withString:@""];
  [dateFormatter setDateFormat:format];
  return dateFormatter;
}

+ (NSDateFormatter *) dateFormatterMonthDayOnly {
    NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [Constants getDateFormatterWithTimeZone];
    [dateFormatter setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterShortStyle];
    NSString *format = [dateFormatter dateFormat];
    format = [format stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"/yy" withString:@""];
    NSRange range;
    range.location = 0;
    range.length = 3;
    format = [format substringWithRange:range];
    [dateFormatter setDateFormat:format];
    return dateFormatter;
}

+ (NSDateFormatter *) getTitleDateFormatter {
    //Returns the following information in the format of the locale:
    //MM-dd-yyyy hh:mm:ssa
    NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [Constants getDateFormatterWithTimeZone];
    [dateFormatter setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterMediumStyle];
    NSString *format = [dateFormatter dateFormat];
    NSRange secondSpace;
    secondSpace.location = format.length-2;
    secondSpace.length = 1;
    format = [format stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"/" withString:@"-"];
    format = [format stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:secondSpace withString:@""];
    [dateFormatter setDateFormat:format];   
    return dateFormatter;
}