NSDate in full style but without year

Question

I'm working with Objective C for iPhone and have a NSDate that I want to display in full style but without the year. Right now I'm using the code below but it also show the year, and I don't want that. As I want to show the date in the right region format I cannot just delete the year in the end as in some countries the year will not be in the end but in the middle or beginning.

NSDate *testdate = [NSDate date];
NSDateFormatter *dateFormattertest = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormattertest setDateStyle:NSDateFormatterFullStyle];
[dateFormattertest setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterNoStyle];
NSString *formattedDateString = [dateFormattertest stringFromDate:testdate];
NSLog(formattedDateString);

In US this give me:
Thursday, January 14, 2010

In Sweden this give me:
torsdag, 2010 januari 14

What is the solution for this? And another question, where can I find information on how to use the setDateFormat of NSDateFormatter? I can't find information about what different letters stand for in the API.

score 39 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 26 '13 at 14:20

I know this is a pretty old question but this is the only one I found on SO that talked about the same issue I was having.

The key method to use here is: dateFormatFromTemplate

Instead of setting the style, you want to set the format as such:

NSDate *testdate = [NSDate date];

NSLocale *currentLocale = [NSLocale currentLocale];

// Set the date components you want
NSString *dateComponents = @"EEEEMMMMd";

// The components will be reordered according to the locale
NSString *dateFormat = [NSDateFormatter dateFormatFromTemplate:dateComponents options:0 locale:currentLocale];
NSLog(@"Date format for %@: %@", [currentLocale displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier value:[currentLocale localeIdentifier]], dateFormat);

NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter =[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:dateFormat];

NSString *formattedDateString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:testdate];
NSLog(formattedDateString);

Special thanks to: http://oleb.net/blog/2011/11/working-with-date-and-time-in-cocoa-part-2/

score 20 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

20

Swift 3

    let template = "EEEEdMMM"

    let format = DateFormatter.dateFormat(fromTemplate: template, options: 0, locale: NSLocale.current)
    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.dateFormat = format

    let now = Date()
    let whatYouWant = formatter.string(from: now) // ex: Sunday, Mar 5

Play with template to match your needs.

Doc and examples here to help you determine the pattern you want.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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1

answered Mar 02 '17 at 17:00

frouo

5,087
3
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This is perfect. Thanks. – Erik van der Neut Oct 08 '19 at 01:05

Aviel Gross · Answer 3 · 2017-08-11T16:29:39.257

Took @Joss great answer to a Swift extension:

extension NSDate {
    func formattedFromCompenents(styleAttitude: NSDateFormatterStyle, year: Bool = true, month: Bool = true, day: Bool = true, hour: Bool = true, minute: Bool = true, second: Bool = true) -> String {
        let long = styleAttitude == .LongStyle || styleAttitude == .FullStyle
        var comps = ""

        if year { comps += long ? "yyyy" : "yy" }
        if month { comps += long ? "MMMM" : "MMM" }
        if day { comps += long ? "dd" : "d" }

        if hour { comps += long ? "HH" : "H" }
        if minute { comps += long ? "mm" : "m" }
        if second { comps += long ? "ss" : "s" }

        let format = NSDateFormatter.dateFormatFromTemplate(comps, options: 0, locale: NSLocale.currentLocale())
        let formatter = NSDateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = format
        return formatter.string(from: self)
    }
}

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 22 '18 at 12:55

Swift 4

extension Date {
    public func formattedFromComponents(styleAttitude: DateFormatter.Style, year: Bool = false, month: Bool = false, day: Bool = false, hour: Bool = false, minute: Bool = false, second: Bool = false, locale: Locale = Locale.current) -> String {
        let long = styleAttitude == .long || styleAttitude == .full
        let short = styleAttitude == .short
        var comps = ""

        if year { comps += long ? "yyyy" : "yy" }
        if month { comps += long ? "MMMM" : (short ? "MM" : "MMM") }
        if day { comps += long ? "dd" : "d" }

        if hour { comps += long ? "HH" : "H" }
        if minute { comps += long ? "mm" : "m" }
        if second { comps += long ? "ss" : "s" }
        let format = DateFormatter.dateFormat(fromTemplate: comps, options: 0, locale: locale)
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = format
        return formatter.string(from: self)
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 29 '21 at 23:05

Swift 5

From @Joss reply:

extension Date {
    
    func output(_ components: String = "EEEEMMMMd") -> String{
        
        let currentLocale: Locale = Locale.current

        // Set the date components you want
        let dateComponents: String = components

        // The components will be reordered according to the locale
        let dateFormat = DateFormatter.dateFormat(fromTemplate: dateComponents, options: 0, locale: currentLocale)

        let formatter =  DateFormatter()
        
        formatter.dateFormat = dateFormat

        return formatter.string(from: self)
    }
}

score -6 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 12 '16 at 07:44

-6

Here's a swift option to show just Month Date on a Label:

let todaysDate: NSDate = NSDate()
let formatter = NSDateFormatter()
formatter.dateFormat = "MMMM dd"
self.todayLabel.text = formatter.stringFromDate(todaysDate)

answered Jul 12 '16 at 07:44

richc

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The question specifically states "I want to show the date in the right region format". – Морт Aug 10 '16 at 09:38

NSDate in full style but without year

6 Answers6

Swift 3

Swift 5