NSDateFormatter not formatting (returning nil) - objective-c

I have a date string, for example:
2012-04-09T23:57:44.070Z
My date format is:
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss'Z'"];
But it's returning nil. What's wrong with my date format?
Thanks

You don't need to be so aggressive about escaping - and :. Also, your seconds characters are wrong. You should be using:
NSDateFormatter *f = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[f setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithName:#"GMT"]];
[f setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'"];
NSLog(#"%#", [f dateFromString:#"2012-04-09T23:57:44.070Z"]);
This logs:
2012-04-09 23:57:44 +0000
If you don't set the timezone on the date formatter, it's going to assume you mean whatever time zone the device is in right now, and not the GMT timezone (which is what the Z is implying).

Related

Not getting NSDate from string

I have following date in string formate "date string : 2014-09-28 17:30:00"
Now, I want to convert it into NSDate.
I have use following code for this.
NSString *date = #"2014-09-28 17:30:00";
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter1 = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter1 setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];
NSDate *dateFromString = [[NSDate alloc] init];
dateFromString = [dateFormatter1 dateFromString:date];
NSLog(#"date from string: %#", dateFromString);
I got the following output.
date from string: 2014-09-28 12:00:00 +0000
So, Here Time is changed.
Please tell me, How can I convert into NSDate. What I am missing here?
When you pass an NSDate object into NSLog, it will print the NSDate in GMT time, which may not be your timezone (and why you were getting 12:00 instead of 17:30), this would also cause the output of your NSLog statement to be different for people who are running your code in different timezones, so what you want to do is call the [NSDateFormatter stringFromDate:] method if you want to keep your specified time from your date object:
So replace this line of code:
// Will print out GMT time by default (+0000)
NSLog(#"date from string: %#", dateFromString);
With this line:
// Will honor the timezone of your original NSDate object:
NSLog(#"date from string: %#", [dateFormatter1 stringFromDate:dateFromString]);
And that should print out the value you were hoping for.
// --------------------------//
Note: It is important to understand that NSDate objects do not have any concept of timezones, so it is up to the developer to manage and track their timezones with the provided platform methods.
On iOS, you can look into using this class:
NSTimeZone, which can help you manage/assign your timezone(s) on iOS platforms.
If you are developing for OSX, you can assign a timezone and locale with this method: -descriptionWithCalendarFormat:timeZone:locale:. (Sadly, this method is OSX-only)
Hope that helps.
There is a time zone component attached to your log at the end that means the date is converted to the specified time zone..here greenwhich mean time
So converting into your time locale can give you the right value you inserted
In your first string add +0000 to the end and check again you can see the value is the same you get.ie the conversion is done on the GMT format
visit https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/DataFormatting/Articles/dfDateFormatting10_4.html
This documentation provides you how to convert NSString to date.
this code is provided by apple documentation.
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateStyle:NSDateFormatterMediumStyle];
[dateFormatter setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterNoStyle];
NSDate *date = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceReferenceDate:162000];
NSString *formattedDateString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:date];
NSLog(#"formattedDateString: %#", formattedDateString);
// Output for locale en_US: "formattedDateString: Jan 2, 2001".
To make string as date
NSString *formattedDateString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:date];
stringFromDate:
Returns a string representation of a given date formatted using the receiver’s current settings.
what you had used
dateFromString:
Returns a date representation of a given string interpreted using the receiver’s current settings.

Convert Short Zulu format date to NSDate

I am having troubles converting a short Zulu date format to a NSDate Object. I have found some answers for converting Zulu strings but mine looks like:
20111210T1000
And based on my researches, I am trying to do:
NSDateFormatter *f = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[f setDateFormat:#"yyyyMMdd'T'HHmmss Z"];
NSDate *date = [f dateFromString:[str stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:#"Z" withString:#" +0000"]];
[f release];
I've tried many ways but my date is still nil...
How should I set my NSDateFormatter?
Here is a quick fix, in your date string you miss the timezone in the format, you should append (Paris one here) to your string and it should work. Also the format was wrong.
NSDateFormatter* df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc]init];
[df setDateFormat:#"yyyyMMdd'T'SSSZ"];
NSString* str = #"20111210T1000-0100"; // NOTE -0100, GMT +1 Paris zone
NSDate* date = [df dateFromString:str];
NSLog(#"%#", date);

How do I convert from NSString to NSDate using NSDateFormater

I have this string: 2012-01-12T21:01:00 and this code:
NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[df setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss a"];
NSDate* arrivalTime=[df dateFromString:field_arrival_time];
But it returns nil. What date format should I use to parse this string?
Your string 2012-01-12T21:01:00 contains the literal T (At least I believe it's a literal, it doesn't appear to signify a timezone). You must include this in your date format.
[df setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd'T'hh:mm:ss"];
Note the lack of the a in the date format, using it will require your input string to use AM or PM preceded by a white space. For more information on special characters with NSDateFormatter take a look at the Date Formatting Guide paying extra attention to the Fixed Formats.
Edit: Your input string does not specify a timezone, it will probably be interpreted as UTC and be localized to the timezone of your machine when you output it through NSLog().
I have tried a lot on your string but never get result. only nil shows on console. but when i remove character "T" from your string it gives perfect result.
[f setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];
NSDate *date = [f dateFromString:#"2012-01-12 21:01:00"];
NSLog(#"date %#", date);
NSDateFormatter *f2 = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[f2 setDateFormat:#"dd-MM-yyyy"];
NSString *s = [f2 stringFromDate:date];
NSLog(#"S %#", s);
/// OutPut : S 12-01-2012

NSDateFormatter return incorrect date from string

I have a method,
+ (NSDate *) convertToDateFrom:(NSString *) dateString
{
if (dateString == nil || [dateString isEqual:#""]) return nil; //return nil if dateString is empty
NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[df setDateFormat:#"EEEE, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm"];
NSDate *date = [df dateFromString:dateString];
return date;
}
When I pass,
#"Monday, 21 November 2011 17:01" //Passed string
It returns a wrong date,
2011-11-21 23:14:00 +0000 // Output
I am not sure whether I am using those flags correctly or NSDateFormatter isn't properly converting my string to date.
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
The +0000 at the end of the date indicates GMT. All dates are stored relative to GMT; when you convert a date to a string or vice versa using a date formatter, the offset to your time zone is included. You can use NSDateFormatter's -setTimeZone: method to set the time zone used.
In short, you're not doing anything wrong in your code. Use [df stringFromDate:date]; to see that the date is correct. (You can also use NSDate's -descriptionWithCalendarFormat:timeZone:locale:.)
try using
df stringFromDate:date
Following worked on mine,
NSLog(#"Date for locale %#: %#",
[[dateFormatter locale] localeIdentifier], [df stringFromDate:date]);
gave me output as :
Date for locale en_US: Wednesday, 26 June 2013 15:50
Try setting the time zone and locale.
[df setLocale:[NSLocale currentLocale]];
[df setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone systemTimeZone]];

Create NSDate timezone issue

I am loading in dates from my web service, I'm sending dates in the format (GMT times): 02/11/11 10:56:09
I am creating an NSDate form this using NSDateFormatter as such:
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss"];
NSDate *journeyDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:str];
[dateFormatter release];
This works great, after I'm comparing this to the current date to get relative time intervals.
The problem is when the phone is set up in a different timezone, when I load in the date from my api, and use the date formatter, what seems to be happening is the phone is assuming the date string is local time and it's converting it to GMT.
Example:
I load in a date with the time 10am from the api.
The phone is set to PDT.
The date formatter is creating an NSDate assuming that my date string with 10am, is actually relevant to the phone.
I end up with a date and time equal to 5pm, adding 10 hours.
I am trying to specify in my date formatter that the string is GMT, but I'm having trouble, I've tried the following, adding GMT to the format:
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss GMT"];
NSDate *journeyDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:str];
[dateFormatter release];
This is not working.
Can anyone give any advice ?
Solution
Just a recap, I got it working with a terrible work around by appending GMT to the original string, and formatting that:
NSString * cheat = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%# GMT", str];
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss zzzz"];
NSDate *journeyDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:cheat];
[dateFormatter release];
return journeyDate;
This was a kind of unstable hack, because if the string changed to include a timezone, it wouldn't work anymore. For anyone who needs to do as myself, the following is just a quick example on how to create an NSTimeZone.
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss"];
[dateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithName:#"UTC"]];
NSDate *journeyDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:str];
[dateFormatter release];
return journeyDate;
Thanks for the quick help.
I suspect you just want to use NSDateFormatter.setTimeZone to force it to use UTC. You don't want to change the format string because presumably the string doesn't include the letters "GMT" - instead, you want to change which time zone the string is interpreted in, which is what setTimeZone will do.
You should use the setTimeZone method: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSDateFormatter_Class/Reference/Reference.html