How can I convert string date to NSDate?

Question

I want to convert "2014-07-15 06:55:14.198000+00:00" this string date to NSDate in Swift.

Answer 1

try this:

let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = /* find out and place date format from 
                            * http://userguide.icu-project.org/formatparse/datetime
                            */
let date = dateFormatter.dateFromString(/* your_date_string */)

For further query, check NSDateFormatter and DateFormatter classes of Foundation framework for Objective-C and Swift, respectively.

Swift 3 and later

let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = /* date_format_you_want_in_string from
                            * http://userguide.icu-project.org/formatparse/datetime
                            */
guard let date = dateFormatter.date(from: /* your_date_string */) else {
   fatalError("ERROR: Date conversion failed due to mismatched format.")
}

// use date constant here

Edit:

Alternative date time format reference https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/format_parse/datetime/

Answer 2

Swift 4

import Foundation

let dateString = "2014-07-15" // change to your date format

var dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd"

let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString)
println(date)

Swift 3

import Foundation

var dateString = "2014-07-15" // change to your date format

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

var date = dateFormatter.dateFromString(dateString)
println(date)

I can do it with this code.

Answer 3

 func convertDateFormatter(date: String) -> String
 {

    let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"//this your string date format
    dateFormatter.timeZone = NSTimeZone(name: "UTC")
    let date = dateFormatter.dateFromString(date)


    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy MMM EEEE HH:mm"///this is what you want to convert format
    dateFormatter.timeZone = NSTimeZone(name: "UTC")
    let timeStamp = dateFormatter.stringFromDate(date!)


    return timeStamp
}

Updated for Swift 3.

func convertDateFormatter(date: String) -> String
{

    let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"//this your string date format
    dateFormatter.timeZone = NSTimeZone(name: "UTC") as TimeZone!
    let date = dateFormatter.date(from: date)


    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy MMM EEEE HH:mm"///this is what you want to convert format
    dateFormatter.timeZone = NSTimeZone(name: "UTC") as TimeZone!
    let timeStamp = dateFormatter.string(from: date!)


    return timeStamp
}

Answer 4

Details

• Swift 4, Xcode 9.2
• Swift 5, Xcode 10.2 (10E125)

Solution

import Foundation

extension DateFormatter {

    convenience init (format: String) {
        self.init()
        dateFormat = format
        locale = Locale.current
    }
}

extension String {

    func toDate (dateFormatter: DateFormatter) -> Date? {
        return dateFormatter.date(from: self)
    }

    func toDateString (dateFormatter: DateFormatter, outputFormat: String) -> String? {
        guard let date = toDate(dateFormatter: dateFormatter) else { return nil }
        return DateFormatter(format: outputFormat).string(from: date)
    }
}

extension Date {

    func toString (dateFormatter: DateFormatter) -> String? {
        return dateFormatter.string(from: self)
    }
}

Usage

var dateString = "14.01.2017T14:54:00"
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter(format: "dd.MM.yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss")
let date = Date()

print("original String with date:               \(dateString)")
print("date String() to Date():                 \(dateString.toDate(dateFormatter: dateFormatter)!)")
print("date String() to formated date String(): \(dateString.toDateString(dateFormatter: dateFormatter, outputFormat: "dd MMMM")!)")
let dateFormatter2 = DateFormatter(format: "dd MMM HH:mm")
print("format Date():                           \(date.toString(dateFormatter: dateFormatter2)!)")

Result

More information

About date format

Answer 5

If you're going to need to parse the string into a date often, you may want to move the functionality into an extension. I created a sharedCode.swift file and put my extensions there:

extension String
{   
    func toDateTime() -> NSDate
    {
        //Create Date Formatter
        let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()

        //Specify Format of String to Parse
        dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss.SSSSxxx"

        //Parse into NSDate
        let dateFromString : NSDate = dateFormatter.dateFromString(self)!

        //Return Parsed Date
        return dateFromString
    }
}

Then if you want to convert your string into a NSDate you can just write something like:

var myDate = myDateString.toDateTime()

Answer 6

For Swift 3

func stringToDate(_ str: String)->Date{
    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.dateFormat="yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss Z"
    return formatter.date(from: str)!
}
func dateToString(_ str: Date)->String{
    var dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.timeStyle=DateFormatter.Style.short
    return dateFormatter.string(from: str)
}

Answer 7

The code fragments on this QA page are "upside down"...

The first thing Apple mentions is that you cache your formatter...

Link to Apple doco stating exactly how to do this:

Cache Formatters for Efficiency Creating a date formatter is not a cheap operation. ...cache a single instance...

Use a global...

let df : DateFormatter = {
    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd"
    return formatter 
}()

Then simply use that formatter anywhere...

let s = df.string(from: someDate)

or

let d = df.date(from: someString)

Or use any of the other many, many convenient methods on DateFormatter.

It is that simple.

(If you write an extension on String, your code is completely "upside down" - you can't use any dateFormatter calls!)

Note that usually you will have a few of those globals .. such as "formatForClient" "formatForPubNub" "formatForDisplayOnInvoiceScreen" .. etc.

Answer 8

Swift support extensions, with extension you can add a new functionality to an existing class, structure, enumeration, or protocol type.

You can add a new init function to NSDate object by extenging the object using the extension keyword.

extension NSDate
{
    convenience
    init(dateString:String) {
        let dateStringFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
        dateStringFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyyMMdd"
        dateStringFormatter.locale = NSLocale(localeIdentifier: "fr_CH_POSIX")
        let d = dateStringFormatter.dateFromString(dateString)!
        self.init(timeInterval:0, sinceDate:d)
    }
} 

Now you can init a NSDate object using:

let myDateObject = NSDate(dateString:"2010-12-15 06:00:00")

Answer 9

Since Swift 3, many of the NS prefixes have been dropped.

let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ" 
/* date format string rules
 * http://userguide.icu-project.org/formatparse/datetime
 */

let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString)

Answer 10

Swift 3,4:

2 useful conversions:

string(from: Date) // to convert from Date to a String
date(from: String) // to convert from String to Date

Usage: 1.

let date = Date() //gives today's date
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd.MM.yyyy"
let todaysDateInUKFormat = dateFormatter.string(from: date)

2.

 let someDateInString = "23.06.2017"
 var getDateFromString = dateFormatter.date(from: someDateInString)

Answer 11

FOR SWIFT 3.1

func convertDateStringToDate(longDate: String) -> String{

    /* INPUT: longDate = "2017-01-27T05:00:00.000Z"
     * OUTPUT: "1/26/17"
     * date_format_you_want_in_string from
     * http://userguide.icu-project.org/formatparse/datetime
     */

    let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"
    let date = dateFormatter.date(from: longDate)

    if date != nil {

        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateStyle = .short
        let dateShort = formatter.string(from: date!)

        return dateShort

    } else {

        return longDate

    }
}

NOTE: THIS WILL RETURN THE ORIGINAL STRING IF ERROR

Answer 12

To add String within Date Format in Swift, I did this

 var dataFormatter:NSDateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
                dataFormatter.dateFormat = "dd-MMMM 'at' HH:mm a"

cell.timeStamplbl.text = dataFormatter.stringFromDate(object.createdAt)

Answer 13

This work for me..

    import Foundation
    import UIKit

    //dateString = "01/07/2017"
    private func parseDate(_ dateStr: String) -> String {
            let simpleDateFormat = DateFormatter()
            simpleDateFormat.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy" //format our date String
            let dateFormat = DateFormatter()
            dateFormat.dateFormat = "dd 'de' MMMM 'de' yyyy" //format return

            let date = simpleDateFormat.date(from: dateStr)
            return dateFormat.string(from: date!)
    }

Answer 14

You can try this swift code

    let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy"//same as strDate date formator
    dateFormatter.timeZone = TimeZone(abbreviation: "GMT+0:00")//Must used if you get one day less in conversion
    let convertedDateObject = dateFormatter.date(from: strDate)

Answer 15

Below are some string to date format converting options can be usedin swift iOS.

1. Thursday, Dec 27, 2018 format= EEEE, MMM d, yyyy
2. 12/27/2018 format= MM/dd/yyyy
3. 12-27-2018 09:59 format= MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm
4. Dec 27, 9:59 AM format= MMM d, h:mm a
5. December 2018 format= MMMM yyyy
6. Dec 27, 2018 format= MMM d, yyyy
7. Thu, 27 Dec 2018 09:59:19 +0000 format= E, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z
8. 2018-12-27T09:59:19+0000 format= yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ
9. 27.12.18 format= dd.MM.yy
10. 09:59:19.815 format= HH:mm:ss.SSS

Answer 16

SWIFT 5, Xcode 11.0

Pass your (date in string) in "dateString" and in "dateFormat" pass format you want. To choose format, use NDateFormatter website.

func getDateFrom(dateString: String, dateFormat: String) -> Date? {
    let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = dateFormat
    dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US")
    guard let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString) else {return nil}
    return date
}

Answer 17

Swift: iOS
if we have string, convert it to NSDate,

var dataString = profileValue["dob"] as String
var dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MM-dd-yyyy"

// convert string into date
let dateValue:NSDate? = dateFormatter.dateFromString(dataString)

if you have and date picker parse date like this

// to avoid any nil value
if let isDate = dateValue {
self.datePicker.date = isDate
}

Answer 18

import Foundation

let now : String = "2014-07-16 03:03:34 PDT"
var date : NSDate
var dateFormatter : NSDateFormatter

date = dateFormatter.dateFromString(now)

date // $R6: __NSDate = 2014-07-16 03:03:34 PDT

https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/mac/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSDateFormatter_Class/index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000447-SW32