How to Convert DateTime to YYYYMMDDHHMMSS Format in C#

In C#, the DateTime gives us the current or defined date and time. However, in some scenarios, you may need to convert the DateTime value to a specific format, such as YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. This format is often used in database operations or file naming conventions. This article covers ways to convert a C# DateTime value to the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format.

Understanding the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS Format

The YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format is a string representation of a date and time value. The format consists of the following elements:

YYYY: Four-digit year
MM: Two-digit month (01-12)
DD: Two-digit day of the month (01-31)
HH: Two-digit hour (00-23)
MM: Two-digit minute (00-59)
SS: Two-digit second (00-59)

For example, the date and time March 14, 2023 10:45:30 AM would be represented as 20230314104530 in the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format.

Converting DateTime to YYYYMMDDHHMMSS Format

To convert a DateTime object to a string in the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format, we can use the ToString() method with a custom format string.

Following is the code syntax we will follow to convert a current time to YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.

DateTime now = DateTime.Now;

string dateTimeString = now.ToString(yyyyMMddHHmmss);

Above code uses the ToString() method that specifies the output should be in the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format.

Example Code

Here’s the complete code to convert a DateTime object to a string in the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format in C#:

using System;

class Program {

static void Main(string[] args) {

DateTime now = DateTime.Now;

string formattedDate = now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss");

Console.WriteLine(formattedDate);

}

}

This code uses the DateTime.Now property to get the current date and time and formats it using the ToString method with a custom format string yyyyMMddHHmmss, and then prints the formatted date and time to the console using Console.WriteLine.

This will output the present date along with the time in the defined format. If you have a DateTime object other than the current time, you can replace it now with your DateTime object.

List of All Date Formats

Following is the list of different date formats one can also use in C#.

Date Format	Output
MM/dd/yyyy	03/14/2023
dddd, dd MMMM yyyy	Wednesday, 14 March 2023
dddd, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm	Wednesday, 14 March 2023 08:00
dddd, dd MMMM yyyy hh:mm tt	Wednesday, 14 March 2023 08:00 AM
dddd, dd MMMM yyyy H:mm	Wednesday, 14 March 2023 8:00
dddd, dd MMMM yyyy h:mm tt	Wednesday, 14 March 2023 8:00 AM
dddd, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm:ss	Wednesday, 14 March 2023 08:00:01
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm	03/14/2023 08:00
MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm tt	03/14/2023 08:00 AM
MM/dd/yyyy H:mm	03/14/2023 8:00
MM/dd/yyyy h:mm tt	03/14/2023 8:00 AM
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss	03/14/2023 08:00:01

Conclusion

Converting a C# DateTime value to the YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format can be easily achieved using the ToString() method. We can convert the current date time to this format using DateTime.Now. Here, Now can be replaced with any date one wants to convert. For more information read the article.