I need to convert a date string retrieved from a server, to local NSDate, the string looks like:
"Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:35:18 GMT"
But now it is Friday, 30th Nov, 11:36 AM, so how do I convert the string to a meaningful local NSDate?
I found:
iPhone: NSDate convert GMT to local time
But looks like it does the opposite.
Note that NSDate's always store the date, internally, in GMT. You then use a date formatter to create a string in your local time zone. In this case, you are starting with a string so need to use the date formatter to create the date in the first place, and then use it again to create a string in your local time zone (which it defaults to when the timezone is not specified).
NSString *dateString = @"Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:35:18 GMT";
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [NSDateFormatter new];
dateFormatter.dateFormat = @"EEE, dd MM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz";
NSDate *date = [dateFormatter dateFromString:dateString];
NSString *localDateString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:date];
NSLog(@"%@", localDateString);
// Results: Thu, 29 11 2012 19:35:18 EST
Just use NSDateFormatter with the formatting string eee, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz. The Zs at the end cause it to read the time zone from the string.
So, given QA1480, sample code:
NSLocale *usLocale = [[[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en_US_POSIX"] autorelease];
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init] autorelease];
[formatter setLocale:usLocale];
[formatter setDateFormat:@"eee, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz"];
_createdAt = [formatter dateFromString:dateString];
