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 (Swift 4 included)

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

Answer 2

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 3

Details

Swift 4, xCode 9.2 / Swift 3, xCode 8.2.1

Date format extensions

import Foundation

extension DateFormatter {

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

extension String {

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

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

extension Date {

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

Usage

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

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

Result

More information

About date format

Answer 4

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 5

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 6

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