Wrong date in swift 5 after conversion

Question

I am converting current date into GMT/UTC date string. But every time it returns me with wrong date.

My todays date is 07 February 2020, 11:09:20 AM. You can refer below image.

Here is my code :

let apiFormatter = DateFormatter()
//apiFormatter.dateStyle = DateFormatter.Style.long
//apiFormatter.timeStyle = DateFormatter.Style.long
//apiFormatter.calendar = Calendar.current
apiFormatter.timeZone = TimeZone.init(identifier: "GMT") //TimeZone(abbreviation: "UTC") //TimeZone.current //
//apiFormatter.locale = Locale.current
//apiFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-DD HH:mm:ss"
apiFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'"
//apiFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'hh:mm:ssZ"
let endDate = apiFormatter.string(from: Date())
print(endDate)

And what I am getting in return is also you can check in image - 2020-02-38T05:33:34.598Z. I have tried with all the format, but no any luck. Can anyone suggest where it is going wrong?

Actually, no. `2020-02-07T05:33:34.598 +0530` is nowhere near "now". It's 5 and a half hours in the past. `2020-02-38T05:33:34.598Z` represents somewhere near "now", and so does `2020-02-07T12:23:25.175 +0530`. Are you sure you still want `2020-02-07T05:33:34.598 +0530`? — Sweeper, Feb 07 '20 at 06:58
What you are showing (`38`) is the result of `DD` (uppercase, day in year) you have commented out. — Sulthan, Feb 07 '20 at 08:18

Sulthan · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-07T08:39:48.203

First of all, the format should be:

apiFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"

The Z is not a literal letter, it's the description of the time zone. However, making it a literal won't probably make a problem.

The 38 for day from your output is obviously caused by the DD format you have commented out.

Nevertheless, you have to set the locale:

apiFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")

Otherwise you will have problems with 12/24h switching.

let apiFormatter = DateFormatter()
apiFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
// remove this if you want to keep your current timezone (shouldn't really matter, the time is the same)
apiFormatter.timeZone = TimeZone(secondsFromGMT: 0)
apiFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"

let endDate = apiFormatter.string(from: Date())
print(endDate) // 2020-02-07T08:25:23.470+0000
print(Date())  // 2020-02-07 08:25:23 +0000

Also note that you can use ISO8601DateFormatter instead of DateFormatter.

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 07 '20 at 22:27

Try this and adjust according to what format you are getting from server -

private func getFormatedDateInString(_ dateString: String) -> String? {
    let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"
    dateFormatter.timeZone = TimeZone(identifier: "UTC")
    if let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString) {
        dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"
        dateFormatter.timeZone = TimeZone.current
        let timeStamp = dateFormatter.string(from: date)
        return timeStamp
    }
    return nil
}

Wrong date in swift 5 after conversion

2 Answers2