Converting string to NSDate

Question

I am trying to use NSDateFormatter to convert the following string to an NSDate: 2013-08-19 7:00 AM.

However, the following NSDate is created: 2013-08-19 04:00:00 +0000. The hour is wrong.

My code is below. I don't know what I am doing incorrectly.

NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [NSDateFormatter new];
[dateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone systemTimeZone]];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm a"];
NSString *string = @"2013-08-19 7:00 AM";
NSDate *dateFromString = [dateFormatter dateFromString:string];

Maybe the problem is that you're not specifying a time-zone. What time-zone are you on? — LuisCien, Aug 19 '13 at 18:52
@LuisCien I didn't realize that mattered. I want to create two date objects (such as for 7 AM and for 11 AM) and count the seconds between the two times. — Jack Humphries, Aug 19 '13 at 18:53
I had this "problem" before too. Not really a problem, but you have no time zone set. NSDate does not include the time zone. — Jamie, Aug 19 '13 at 18:54
Yes. If that's where you're getting the time from. It would be wherever the time is coming from. — Jamie, Aug 19 '13 at 18:55
@JackHumphries There is no need to set the formatter's timezone if you want the local timezone - that is the default behavior. — rmaddy, Aug 19 '13 at 19:26
@JackHumphries When you log an `NSDate` object it is always logged in UTC (+0000). That is normal. — rmaddy, Aug 19 '13 at 19:28
possible duplicate of [Getting date from \[NSDate date\] off by a few hours](http://stackoverflow.com/q/8466744) — jscs, Aug 19 '13 at 19:36

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 19 '13 at 19:05

You're attempting to use a 24-hour format for the hours and an AM/PM indicator, and that just won't work. Change your line:

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm a"];

to this:

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm a"];

and you'll find that your code now works.

score -2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '13 at 18:56

-2

The reason why you see "+0000" means that the OS is converting your time string to UTC. To solve this you just have to set your local time-zone.

dateFormatter.timeZone = YOUR_LOCAL_TIMEZONE;

Also, to print your date in your local settings you can use NSDateFormatter's:

localizedStringFromDate:dateStyle:timeStyle:

Hope this helps!

answered Aug 19 '13 at 18:56

LuisCien

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Is the correct: `[dateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone systemTimeZone]];` – Jack Humphries Aug 19 '13 at 18:57
It's still returning 4 AM. – Jack Humphries Aug 19 '13 at 18:57
1

@LuisCien No, the OS is not converting any string. The issue is simple - when you log an `NSDate` object, the `description` method is called on the `NSDate`. The implementation of this method is to return the date as a string in UTC time. None of this has anything to do with the actual parsing of the string into an `NSDate` using the `NSDateFormatter` (which assumes locale time by default). – rmaddy Aug 19 '13 at 19:30
The reason he sees +0000 is that NSLog of an NSDate always returns UTC. – Hot Licks Aug 19 '13 at 20:00
Thanks for shedding some light on me :) – LuisCien Aug 22 '13 at 00:30

Converting string to NSDate

2 Answers2