How can I String.Format a TimeSpan object with a c

Question

What is the recommended way of formatting TimeSpan objects into a string with a custom format?

Answer 1

if (timeSpan.TotalDays < 1)
    return timeSpan.ToString(@"hh\:mm\:ss");

return timeSpan.TotalDays < 2
    ? timeSpan.ToString(@"d\ \d\a\y\ hh\:mm\:ss")
    : timeSpan.ToString(@"d\ \d\a\y\s\ hh\:mm\:ss");

All literal characters must be escaped.

Answer 2

One way is to create a DateTime object and use it for formatting:

new DateTime(myTimeSpan.Ticks).ToString(myCustomFormat)

// or using String.Format:
String.Format("{0:HHmmss}", new DateTime(myTimeSpan.Ticks))

This is the way I know. I hope someone can suggest a better way.

Answer 3

Personally, I like this approach:

TimeSpan ts = ...;
string.Format("{0:%d}d {0:%h}h {0:%m}m {0:%s}s", ts);

You can make this as custom as you like with no problems:

string.Format("{0:%d}days {0:%h}hours {0:%m}min {0:%s}sec", ts);
string.Format("{0:%d}d {0:%h}h {0:%m}' {0:%s}''", ts);

Answer 4

Here is my version. It shows only as much as necessary, handles pluralization, negatives, and I tried to make it lightweight.

Output Examples

0 seconds
1.404 seconds
1 hour, 14.4 seconds
14 hours, 57 minutes, 22.473 seconds
1 day, 14 hours, 57 minutes, 22.475 seconds

Code

public static class TimeSpanExtensions
{
    public static string ToReadableString(this TimeSpan timeSpan)
    {
        int days = (int)(timeSpan.Ticks / TimeSpan.TicksPerDay);
        long subDayTicks = timeSpan.Ticks % TimeSpan.TicksPerDay;

        bool isNegative = false;
        if (timeSpan.Ticks < 0L)
        {
            isNegative = true;
            days = -days;
            subDayTicks = -subDayTicks;
        }

        int hours = (int)((subDayTicks / TimeSpan.TicksPerHour) % 24L);
        int minutes = (int)((subDayTicks / TimeSpan.TicksPerMinute) % 60L);
        int seconds = (int)((subDayTicks / TimeSpan.TicksPerSecond) % 60L);
        int subSecondTicks = (int)(subDayTicks % TimeSpan.TicksPerSecond);
        double fractionalSeconds = (double)subSecondTicks / TimeSpan.TicksPerSecond;

        var parts = new List<string>(4);

        if (days > 0)
            parts.Add(string.Format("{0} day{1}", days, days == 1 ? null : "s"));
        if (hours > 0)
            parts.Add(string.Format("{0} hour{1}", hours, hours == 1 ? null : "s"));
        if (minutes > 0)
            parts.Add(string.Format("{0} minute{1}", minutes, minutes == 1 ? null : "s"));
        if (fractionalSeconds.Equals(0D))
        {
            switch (seconds)
            {
                case 0:
                    // Only write "0 seconds" if we haven't written anything at all.
                    if (parts.Count == 0)
                        parts.Add("0 seconds");
                    break;

                case 1:
                    parts.Add("1 second");
                    break;

                default:
                    parts.Add(seconds + " seconds");
                    break;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            parts.Add(string.Format("{0}{1:.###} seconds", seconds, fractionalSeconds));
        }

        string resultString = string.Join(", ", parts);
        return isNegative ? "(negative) " + resultString : resultString;
    }
}

Answer 5

Dim duration As New TimeSpan(1, 12, 23, 62)

DEBUG.WriteLine("Time of Travel: " + duration.ToString("dd\.hh\:mm\:ss"))

It works for Framework 4

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee372287.aspx

Answer 6

This is the approach I used my self with conditional formatting. and I post it here because I think this is clean way.

$"{time.Days:#0:;;\\}{time.Hours:#0:;;\\}{time.Minutes:00:}{time.Seconds:00}"

example of outputs:

00:00 (minimum)

1:43:04 (when we have hours)

15:03:01 (when hours are more than 1 digit)

2:4:22:04 (when we have days.)

The formatting is easy. time.Days:#0:;;\\ the format before ;; is for when value is positive. negative values are ignored. and for zero values we have;;\\ in order to hide it in formatted string. note that the escaped backslash is necessary otherwise it will not format correctly.