iOS: How to get a proper Month name from a number?

Question

I know that the NSDateformatter suite of functionality is a boon for mankind, but at the same time it is very confusing to me. I hope you can help me out.

Somewhere

Answer 1

Another option is to use the monthSymbols method:

int monthNumber = 11;   //November
NSDateFormatter *df = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init] autorelease];
NSString *monthName = [[df monthSymbols] objectAtIndex:(monthNumber-1)];

Note that you'll need to subtract 1 from your 1..12 monthNumber since monthSymbols is zero-based.

Answer 2

Both answers from Anna Karenina and Carl doesn't work that well as they won't return month name in nominativ for some cultures. I suggest to use the proposed solution from Pascal, which solves this issue (by replacing monthSymbols with standaloneMonthSymbols)

Answer 3

In Swift 3.0

    let monthNumber = 3
    let fmt = DateFormatter()
    fmt.dateFormat = "MM"
    let month = fmt.monthSymbols[monthNumber - 1]
    print(month)

    // result
   "March\n"        

Answer 4

And with ARC :

+ (NSString *)monthNameFromDate:(NSDate *)date {
    if (!date) return @"n/a";
    NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [df setDateFormat:@"MM"];
    return [[df monthSymbols] objectAtIndex:([[df stringFromDate:date] integerValue] - 1)];
}

Answer 5

Swift 2.0

let monthName = NSDateFormatter().monthSymbols[monthNumber - 1]

Swift 4.0

let monthName = DateFormatter().monthSymbols[monthNumber - 1]