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

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];

Answer 2

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];

Answer 3

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]);

Answer 4

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) -> NSDate {

    var error: NSError?
    let detector: NSDataDetector = NSDataDetector.dataDetectorWithTypes(NSTextCheckingType.Date.toRaw(), error: &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()
}

Answer 5

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.