How do I get the current Date in short format in Swift

Question

In the images below you can see the code I wrote and the values of all the variables:

class fun getCurrentShortDate() -> String {
    var todaysDate = NSD         


        

Answer 1

Update for Swift 3.0: Create an extension for Date

extension Date {
    func string(format: String) -> String {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = format
        return formatter.string(from: self)
    }
}

Usage:

Date().string(format: "yyyy-MM-dd")

Swift 2.2: Create an extension for NSDate

extension NSDate {  
    func dateStringWithFormat(format: String) -> String {
        let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
        dateFormatter.dateFormat = format
        return dateFormatter.stringFromDate(self)
    }   
}

Usage:

NSDate().dateStringWithFormat("yyyy-MM-dd")

Answer 2

Here's the way Apple suggests

    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.locale = Locale.current
    formatter.dateStyle = .short
    let dateString = formatter.string(from: date)

or if the pre-defined format of .short, .medium, .long and .full are quite right create the template in a locale

    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.locale = Locale.current
    formatter.setLocalizedDateFormatFromTemplate("MM/dd/yyyy")
    let dateString = formatter.string(from: date)

Here's the link

Answer 3

You can create a extension for easily transform a String into a NSDate.

extension NSDate {
    func dateFromString(date: String, format: String) -> NSDate {
        let formatter = NSDateFormatter()
        let locale = NSLocale(localeIdentifier: "en_US_POSIX")

        formatter.locale = locale
        formatter.dateFormat = format

        return formatter.dateFromString(date)!
    }
}

Than in your function you can NSDate().dateFromString("2015-02-04 23:29:28", format: "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss") and this should works. Input date don't need to be on the same format of output date.

func getCurrentShortDate() -> String {
    var todaysDate = NSDate().dateFromString("2015-02-04 23:29:28", format:  "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss")

    var dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
    var DateInFormat = dateFormatter.stringFromDate(todaysDate)

    return DateInFormat
}

println(getCurrentShortDate())

The output is 04-02-2015.

Answer 4

 let dateformatter1 = DateFormatter()
    dateformatter1.dateFormat = "ccc, d MMM yyy"

    let dateString1 = dateformatter1.string(from: datePicker.date)
    print("Date Selected \(dateString1)")
    labelDate.text = dateString1

    let dateformatter2 = DateFormatter()
    dateformatter2.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
    let dateString2 = dateformatter2.string(from: datePicker.date)
    print("Date Selected \(dateString2)")


    let dateformatter3 = DateFormatter()
    dateformatter3.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy"
    let dateString3 = dateformatter3.string(from: datePicker.date)
    print("Date Selected \(dateString3)")

    let dateformatter4 = DateFormatter()
    dateformatter4.dateFormat = "dd MMMM yyyy hh:mm a"
    let dateString4 = dateformatter4.string(from: datePicker.date)
    print("Date Selected \(dateString4)") 

I referred this article on Codzify.com. Really helpful.

Answer 5

Swift 3

Using the extension created by @doovers and some format strings from this website, you get the following:

extension Date {
    func string(format: String) -> String {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = format
        return formatter.string(from: self)
    }
}

Usage:

Date().string(format: "EEEE, MMM d, yyyy") // Saturday, Oct 21, 2017
Date().string(format: "MM/dd/yyyy")        // 10/21/2017
Date().string(format: "MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm")  // 10-21-2017 03:31

Date().string(format: "MMM d, h:mm a")     // Oct 21, 3:31 AM
Date().string(format: "MMMM yyyy")         // October 2017
Date().string(format: "MMM d, yyyy")       // Oct 21, 2017

Date().string(format: "E, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z") // Sat, 21 Oct 2017 03:31:40 +0000
Date().string(format: "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ")   // 2017-10-21T03:31:40+0000
Date().string(format: "dd.MM.yy")                 // 21.10.17

You could also pass milliseconds to date object like this:

Date(1508577868947).string(format: "EEEE, MMM d, yyyy") // Saturday, Oct 21, 2017

Answer 6

Xcode 11 or later • Swift 5.1 or later

---

extension TimeZone {
    static let gmt = TimeZone(secondsFromGMT: 0)!
}
extension Formatter {
    static let date = DateFormatter()
}

---

extension Date {
    func localizedDescription(dateStyle: DateFormatter.Style = .medium,
                              timeStyle: DateFormatter.Style = .medium,
                           in timeZone : TimeZone = .current,
                              locale   : Locale = .current) -> String {
        Formatter.date.locale = locale
        Formatter.date.timeZone = timeZone
        Formatter.date.dateStyle = dateStyle
        Formatter.date.timeStyle = timeStyle
        return Formatter.date.string(from: self)
    }
    var localizedDescription: String { localizedDescription() }
}

---

Date().localizedDescription                                                // "Sep 26, 2018 at 12:03:41 PM"
Date().localizedDescription(in: .gmt)                                      // "Sep 26, 2018 at 3:03:41 PM" UTC TIME
Date().localizedDescription(dateStyle: .short, timeStyle: .short)          //  "9/26/18, 12:03 PM"
Date().localizedDescription(dateStyle: .full, timeStyle: .full)            //  "Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at 12:03:41 PM Brasilia Standard Time"
Date().localizedDescription(dateStyle: .full, timeStyle: .full, in: .gmt)  // "Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at 3:03:41 PM Greenwich Mean Time"

---

extension Date {

    var fullDate: String   { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .full,   timeStyle: .none) }
    var longDate: String   { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .long,   timeStyle: .none) }
    var mediumDate: String { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .medium, timeStyle: .none) }
    var shortDate: String  { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .short,  timeStyle: .none) }

    var fullTime: String   { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .none,   timeStyle: .full) }
    var longTime: String   { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .none,   timeStyle: .long) }
    var mediumTime: String { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .none,   timeStyle: .medium) }
    var shortTime: String  { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .none,   timeStyle: .short) }

    var fullDateTime: String   { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .full,   timeStyle: .full) }
    var longDateTime: String   { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .long,   timeStyle: .long) }
    var mediumDateTime: String { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .medium, timeStyle: .medium) }
    var shortDateTime: String  { localizedDescription(dateStyle: .short,  timeStyle: .short) }
}

---

print(Date().fullDate)  // "Friday, May 26, 2017\n"
print(Date().shortDate)  // "5/26/17\n"

print(Date().fullTime)  // "10:16:24 AM Brasilia Standard Time\n"
print(Date().shortTime)  // "10:16 AM\n"

print(Date().fullDateTime)  // "Friday, May 26, 2017 at 10:16:24 AM Brasilia Standard Time\n"
print(Date().shortDateTime)  // "5/26/17, 10:16 AM\n"