Given a DateTime object, how do I get an ISO 8601 date in string format?

Question

Given:

DateTime.UtcNow

How do I get a string which represents the same value in an ISO 8601-compliant format?

Note that ISO 8601 de

Answer 1

Surprised that no one suggested it:

System.DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("u").Replace(' ','T')

# Using PowerShell Core to demo

# Lowercase "u" format
[System.DateTime]::UtcNow.ToString("u")
> 2020-02-06 01:00:32Z

# Lowercase "u" format with replacement
[System.DateTime]::UtcNow.ToString("u").Replace(' ','T')
> 2020-02-06T01:00:32Z

The UniversalSortableDateTimePattern gets you almost all the way to what you want (which is more an RFC 3339 representation).

---

Added: I decided to use the benchmarks that were in answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/43793679/653058 to compare how this performs.

tl:dr; it's at the expensive end but still just a little over half a millisecond on my crappy old laptop :-)

Implementation:

[Benchmark]
public string ReplaceU()
{
   var text = dateTime.ToUniversalTime().ToString("u").Replace(' ', 'T');
   return text;
}

Results:

// * Summary *

BenchmarkDotNet=v0.11.5, OS=Windows 10.0.19002
Intel Xeon CPU E3-1245 v3 3.40GHz, 1 CPU, 8 logical and 4 physical cores
.NET Core SDK=3.0.100
  [Host]     : .NET Core 3.0.0 (CoreCLR 4.700.19.46205, CoreFX 4.700.19.46214), 64bit RyuJIT
  DefaultJob : .NET Core 3.0.0 (CoreCLR 4.700.19.46205, CoreFX 4.700.19.46214), 64bit RyuJIT


|               Method |     Mean |     Error |    StdDev |
|--------------------- |---------:|----------:|----------:|
|           CustomDev1 | 562.4 ns | 11.135 ns | 10.936 ns |
|           CustomDev2 | 525.3 ns |  3.322 ns |  3.107 ns |
|     CustomDev2WithMS | 609.9 ns |  9.427 ns |  8.356 ns |
|              FormatO | 356.6 ns |  6.008 ns |  5.620 ns |
|              FormatS | 589.3 ns |  7.012 ns |  6.216 ns |
|       FormatS_Verify | 599.8 ns | 12.054 ns | 11.275 ns |
|        CustomFormatK | 549.3 ns |  4.911 ns |  4.594 ns |
| CustomFormatK_Verify | 539.9 ns |  2.917 ns |  2.436 ns |
|             ReplaceU | 615.5 ns | 12.313 ns | 11.517 ns |

// * Hints *
Outliers
  BenchmarkDateTimeFormat.CustomDev2WithMS: Default     -> 1 outlier  was  removed (668.16 ns)
  BenchmarkDateTimeFormat.FormatS: Default              -> 1 outlier  was  removed (621.28 ns)
  BenchmarkDateTimeFormat.CustomFormatK: Default        -> 1 outlier  was  detected (542.55 ns)
  BenchmarkDateTimeFormat.CustomFormatK_Verify: Default -> 2 outliers were removed (557.07 ns, 560.95 ns)

// * Legends *
  Mean   : Arithmetic mean of all measurements
  Error  : Half of 99.9% confidence interval
  StdDev : Standard deviation of all measurements
  1 ns   : 1 Nanosecond (0.000000001 sec)

// ***** BenchmarkRunner: End *****

Answer 2

Note to readers: Several commenters have pointed out some problems in this answer (related particularly to the first suggestion). Refer to the comments section for more information.

DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH\\:mm\\:ss.fffffffzzz");

This gives you a date similar to 2008-09-22T13:57:31.2311892-04:00.

Another way is:

DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("o");

which gives you 2008-09-22T14:01:54.9571247Z

To get the specified format, you can use:

DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ")

DateTime Formatting Options

Answer 3

If you're developing under SharePoint 2010 or higher you can use

using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities;
...
string strISODate = SPUtility.CreateISO8601DateTimeFromSystemDateTime(DateTime.Now)

Answer 4

The "s" standard format specifier represents a custom date and time format string that is defined by the DateTimeFormatInfo.SortableDateTimePattern property. The pattern reflects a defined standard (ISO 8601), and the property is read-only. Therefore, it is always the same, regardless of the culture used or the format provider supplied. The custom format string is "yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss".

When this standard format specifier is used, the formatting or parsing operation always uses the invariant culture.

– from MSDN

Answer 5

It is interesting that custom format "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssK" (without ms) is the quickest format method.

Also it is interesting that "S" format is slow on Classic and fast on Core...

Of course numbers are very close, between some rows difference is insignificant (tests with suffix _Verify are the same as those that are without that suffix, demonstrates results repeatability)

BenchmarkDotNet=v0.10.5, OS=Windows 10.0.14393
Processor=Intel Core i5-2500K CPU 3.30GHz (Sandy Bridge), ProcessorCount=4
Frequency=3233539 Hz, Resolution=309.2587 ns, Timer=TSC
  [Host] : Clr 4.0.30319.42000, 64bit RyuJIT-v4.6.1637.0
  Clr    : Clr 4.0.30319.42000, 64bit RyuJIT-v4.6.1637.0
  Core   : .NET Core 4.6.25009.03, 64bit RyuJIT


               Method |  Job | Runtime |       Mean |     Error |    StdDev |     Median |        Min |        Max | Rank |  Gen 0 | Allocated |
--------------------- |----- |-------- |-----------:|----------:|----------:|-----------:|-----------:|-----------:|-----:|-------:|----------:|
           CustomDev1 |  Clr |     Clr | 1,089.0 ns | 22.179 ns | 20.746 ns | 1,079.9 ns | 1,068.9 ns | 1,133.2 ns |    8 | 0.1086 |     424 B |
           CustomDev2 |  Clr |     Clr | 1,032.3 ns | 19.897 ns | 21.289 ns | 1,024.7 ns | 1,000.3 ns | 1,072.0 ns |    7 | 0.1165 |     424 B |
     CustomDev2WithMS |  Clr |     Clr | 1,168.2 ns | 16.543 ns | 15.474 ns | 1,168.5 ns | 1,149.3 ns | 1,189.2 ns |   10 | 0.1625 |     592 B |
              FormatO |  Clr |     Clr | 1,563.7 ns | 31.244 ns | 54.721 ns | 1,532.5 ns | 1,497.8 ns | 1,703.5 ns |   14 | 0.2897 |     976 B |
              FormatS |  Clr |     Clr | 1,243.5 ns | 24.615 ns | 31.130 ns | 1,229.3 ns | 1,200.6 ns | 1,324.2 ns |   13 | 0.2865 |     984 B |
       FormatS_Verify |  Clr |     Clr | 1,217.6 ns | 11.486 ns | 10.744 ns | 1,216.2 ns | 1,205.5 ns | 1,244.3 ns |   12 | 0.2885 |     984 B |
        CustomFormatK |  Clr |     Clr |   912.2 ns | 17.915 ns | 18.398 ns |   916.6 ns |   878.3 ns |   934.1 ns |    4 | 0.0629 |     240 B |
 CustomFormatK_Verify |  Clr |     Clr |   894.0 ns |  3.877 ns |  3.626 ns |   893.8 ns |   885.1 ns |   900.0 ns |    3 | 0.0636 |     240 B |
           CustomDev1 | Core |    Core |   989.1 ns | 12.550 ns | 11.739 ns |   983.8 ns |   976.8 ns | 1,015.5 ns |    6 | 0.1101 |     423 B |
           CustomDev2 | Core |    Core |   964.3 ns | 18.826 ns | 23.809 ns |   954.1 ns |   935.5 ns | 1,015.6 ns |    5 | 0.1267 |     423 B |
     CustomDev2WithMS | Core |    Core | 1,136.0 ns | 21.914 ns | 27.714 ns | 1,138.1 ns | 1,099.9 ns | 1,200.2 ns |    9 | 0.1752 |     590 B |
              FormatO | Core |    Core | 1,201.5 ns | 16.262 ns | 15.211 ns | 1,202.3 ns | 1,178.2 ns | 1,225.5 ns |   11 | 0.0656 |     271 B |
              FormatS | Core |    Core |   993.5 ns | 19.272 ns | 24.372 ns |   999.4 ns |   954.2 ns | 1,029.5 ns |    6 | 0.0633 |     279 B |
       FormatS_Verify | Core |    Core | 1,003.1 ns | 17.577 ns | 16.442 ns | 1,009.2 ns |   976.1 ns | 1,024.3 ns |    6 | 0.0674 |     279 B |
        CustomFormatK | Core |    Core |   878.2 ns | 17.017 ns | 20.898 ns |   877.7 ns |   851.4 ns |   928.1 ns |    2 | 0.0555 |     215 B |
 CustomFormatK_Verify | Core |    Core |   863.6 ns |  3.968 ns |  3.712 ns |   863.0 ns |   858.6 ns |   870.8 ns |    1 | 0.0550 |     215 B |

Code:

    public class BenchmarkDateTimeFormat
    {
        public static DateTime dateTime = DateTime.Now;

        [Benchmark]
        public string CustomDev1()
        {
            var d = dateTime.ToUniversalTime();
            var sb = new StringBuilder(20);

            sb.Append(d.Year).Append("-");
            if (d.Month <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(d.Month).Append("-");
            if (d.Day <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(d.Day).Append("T");
            if (d.Hour <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(d.Hour).Append(":");
            if (d.Minute <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(d.Minute).Append(":");
            if (d.Second <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(d.Second).Append("Z");
            var text = sb.ToString();
            return text;
        }

        [Benchmark]
        public string CustomDev2()
        {
            var u = dateTime.ToUniversalTime();
            var sb = new StringBuilder(20);
            var y = u.Year;
            var d = u.Day;
            var M = u.Month;
            var h = u.Hour;
            var m = u.Minute;
            var s = u.Second;
            sb.Append(y).Append("-");
            if (M <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(M).Append("-");
            if (d <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(d).Append("T");
            if (h <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(h).Append(":");
            if (m <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(m).Append(":");
            if (s <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(s).Append("Z");
            var text = sb.ToString();
            return text;
        }

        [Benchmark]
        public string CustomDev2WithMS()
        {
            var u  = dateTime.ToUniversalTime();
            var sb = new StringBuilder(23);
            var y  = u.Year;
            var d  = u.Day;
            var M  = u.Month;
            var h  = u.Hour;
            var m  = u.Minute;
            var s  = u.Second;
            var ms = u.Millisecond;
            sb.Append(y).Append("-");
            if (M <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(M).Append("-");
            if (d <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(d).Append("T");
            if (h <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(h).Append(":");
            if (m <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(m).Append(":");
            if (s <= 9)
                sb.Append("0");
            sb.Append(s).Append(".");
            sb.Append(ms).Append("Z");
            var text = sb.ToString();
            return text;
        }
        [Benchmark]
        public string FormatO()
        {
            var text = dateTime.ToUniversalTime().ToString("o");
            return text;
        }
        [Benchmark]
        public string FormatS()
        {
            var text = string.Concat(dateTime.ToUniversalTime().ToString("s"),"Z");
            return text;
        }

        [Benchmark]
        public string FormatS_Verify()
        {
            var text = string.Concat(dateTime.ToUniversalTime().ToString("s"), "Z");
            return text;
        }

        [Benchmark]
        public string CustomFormatK()
        {
            var text = dateTime.ToUniversalTime().ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssK");
            return text;
        }

        [Benchmark]
        public string CustomFormatK_Verify()
        {
            var text = dateTime.ToUniversalTime().ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssK");
            return text;
        }
    }

https://github.com/dotnet/BenchmarkDotNet was used

Answer 6

DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("s", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) should give you what you are looking for as the "s" format specifier is described as a sortable date/time pattern; conforms to ISO 8601.

EDIT: To get the additional Z at the end as the OP requires, use "o" instead of "s".