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 NSDat

Answer 1

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];

Answer 2

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;
}

Answer 3

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!

Answer 4

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)

Answer 5

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() -> 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() -> String {
        let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
        dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd, MMM"
        return dateFormatter.stringFromDate(self)
    }

    //NSDate to String
    func getString() -> 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) -> String

Answer 6

// 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];