Converting the date time to display milliseconds in C#

Question

I want to show the milliseconds, but ToString shows the milliseconds as 00000.

I am providing the code below, with the output at each step.

1. String currentDateTime = DateTime.Now.ToString("G");

   Output - 7/27/2011 3:05:31 PM

2. System.DateTime dateTime = System.DateTime.Parse(currentDateTime);

   Output - 7/27/2011 3:05:31 PM

3. String dateTimeStr = dateTime.ToString("hh.mm.ss.ffffff", "en-US");

Output - 03.05.32.000000

I want to show the output with the milliseconds , eg 03.05.32.33456

If I used ParseExact instead of Parse, I am getting an exception. I know that I can use TryParseExact, but that solution might not be suitable , as I need a generic solution to this problem .

Can someone help me in this.

Thanks in advance. Sujay

Helpmeet

I guess that the third option is correct. Probably the content of the DateTime structure has the millisecs equals to zero. – Sukin

No the milliseconds are not zero. Please look at the accepted answer. – Helpmeet

That's exactly what I mean. The third assignment is correct, while the first two have no sense. Why are you using all of them? – Sukin

Answer 1

By using the same dateTime object that you previously built from a string ("7/27/2011 3:05:31 PM" without any milliseconds), you're losing the milliseconds.

If you were to convert Now to a string directly, you would not lose the milliseconds:

String dateTimeStr = DateTime.Now.ToString("hh.mm.ss.ffffff", "en-US");

Phyte

Answer 2

Not sure why you are moving from DateTime -> string -> DateTime This should display milliseconds

DateTime dt = DateTime.Now;
dt.ToString("hh:mm:ss.fff") 

Please edit the post if you are not looking on these lines for additional info

Lally

Your code wont display millisecond. Please read my post carefully. – Helpmeet

Answer 3

In your code you first serialize the DateTime to string using the standard "G" format, which doesn't have miliseconds. So sure, you get 000000 later when you parse this string back:

        String currentDateTime = DateTime.Now.ToString("G");
        Console.WriteLine(currentDateTime);

        System.DateTime dateTime = System.DateTime.Parse(currentDateTime);

        Console.WriteLine(dateTime.ToString("hh.mm.ss.ffffff"));

Telefilm

Peter - Please see the output of 3. I had also used dateTime.ToString("hh.mm.ss.ffffff", "en-US"); , but I get a wrong output. The millisecond are 0000. – Helpmeet

Are you talking about the serialization , yes I did . I want the output without serialization. – Helpmeet