How do I get the current Date in short format in Swift

Question

In the images below you can see the code I wrote and the values of all the variables:

class fun getCurrentShortDate() -> String {
    var todaysDate = NSDate()
    var dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
    var DateInFormat = dateFormatter.stringFromDate(todaysDate)

    return DateInFormat
}

Variable values

As you can see the current date is found no problem, but when I try to change the NSDate to a string, it just won't do it.

Pantelleria

1. Dont feel ashamed. Everyone starts somewhere. 2. Paste the code directly into your post rather than posting an image – Ideology

Can you do a println(DateInFormat) and prove the string is empty? – Ideology

Something is weird. It should be pretty hard to make that particular piece of code fail. It may be a debugger issue -- the Xcode debugger`s variable display stuff is pretty flaky, and not to be trusted. – Discoverer

@Ideology - That should be println(DateInFormat). – Discoverer

fixed thanks, (read the wrong name) – Ideology

Answer 1

Xcode 11 or later • Swift 5.1 or later

---

extension TimeZone {
    static let gmt = TimeZone(secondsFromGMT: 0)!
}

---

extension Locale {
    static let ptBR = Locale(identifier: "pt_BR")
}

---

extension Formatter {
    static let date = DateFormatter()
}

---

extension Date {
    func localizedDescription(date dateStyle: DateFormatter.Style = .medium,
                              time timeStyle: DateFormatter.Style = .medium,
                              in timeZone: TimeZone = .current,
                              locale: Locale = .current,
                              using calendar: Calendar = .current) -> String {
        Formatter.date.calendar = calendar
        Formatter.date.locale = locale
        Formatter.date.timeZone = timeZone
        Formatter.date.dateStyle = dateStyle
        Formatter.date.timeStyle = timeStyle
        return Formatter.date.string(from: self)
    }
    var localizedDescription: String { localizedDescription() }
}

---

Date().localizedDescription  // "18 Dec 2021 06:43:50"
Date().localizedDescription(in: .gmt)  // "18 Dec 2021 06:43:50" UTC time
Date().localizedDescription(date: .short, time: .short)  // "18/12/21 03:43"
Date().localizedDescription(date: .full, time: .full)  // "Saturday, 18 December 2021 03:43:50 Brasilia Standard Time"
Date().localizedDescription(date: .full, time: .full, in: .gmt)  // "Saturday, 18 December 2021 06:43:50 Greenwich Mean Time"
Date().localizedDescription(date: .full, time: .full, locale: .ptBR)  // "sábado, 18 de dezembro de 2021 03:43:50 Horário Padrão de Brasília"

---

extension Date {

    var fullDate: String { localizedDescription(date: .full, time: .none) }
    var longDate: String { localizedDescription(date: .long, time: .none) }
    var mediumDate: String { localizedDescription(date: .medium, time: .none) }
    var shortDate: String { localizedDescription(date: .short, time: .none) }

    var fullTime: String { localizedDescription(date: .none, time: .full) }
    var longTime: String { localizedDescription(date: .none, time: .long) }
    var mediumTime: String { localizedDescription(date: .none, time: .medium) }
    var shortTime: String { localizedDescription(date: .none, time: .short) }

    var fullDateTime: String { localizedDescription(date: .full, time: .full) }
    var longDateTime: String { localizedDescription(date: .long, time: .long) }
    var mediumDateTime: String { localizedDescription(date: .medium, time: .medium) }
    var shortDateTime: String { localizedDescription(date: .short, time: .short) }
}

---

print(Date().fullDate)  // "Saturday, 18 December 2021\n"
print(Date().shortDate)  // "18/12/21\n"

print(Date().fullTime)  // "03:43:50 Brasilia Standard Time\n"
print(Date().shortTime)  // "03:43\n"

print(Date().fullDateTime)  // "Saturday, 18 December 2021 03:43:50 Brasilia Standard Time\n"
print(Date().shortDateTime)  // "18/12/21 03:43\n"

Palingenesis

also can add var shortDateTime: String { return "(self.shortDate) (self.shortTime)" } – Hofmannsthal

This is cool. How bout getting date/time from a specific UTC Offset? – Posey

Just pass the desired timezone for the localizedDescription method – Palingenesis

how to add milliseconds? – Dogear

There is no timeStyle option to add milliseconds but you can set a custom localized dateFormat using DateFormatter's method setLocalizedDateFormatFromTemplate and pass the milliseconds component SSS if you want: dateFormatter.setLocalizedDateFormatFromTemplate("HHmmssSSS") – Palingenesis

Answer 2

SWIFT 4 or 5

extension Date {

 static func getCurrentDate() -> String {

        let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()

        dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss"

        return dateFormatter.string(from: Date())

    }
}

Using

print(Date.getCurrentDate())

Threeply

many people on stackoverflow forget to give the usage, they only define... great answer!! – Gujarat

This will create a new date formatter every time you call this method. – Palingenesis

Answer 3

Update for Swift 3.0: Create an extension for Date

extension Date {
    func string(format: String) -> String {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = format
        return formatter.string(from: self)
    }
}

Usage:

Date().string(format: "yyyy-MM-dd")

Swift 2.2: Create an extension for NSDate

extension NSDate {  
    func dateStringWithFormat(format: String) -> String {
        let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
        dateFormatter.dateFormat = format
        return dateFormatter.stringFromDate(self)
    }   
}

Usage:

NSDate().dateStringWithFormat("yyyy-MM-dd")

Loquacity

This will create a new DateFormatter every single time you call this method. – Palingenesis

Btw when working with most fixed date formats you should set your locale to "en_US_POSIX" otherwise your DateFormatter will be affected by the user device locale/settings. extension Date { static let formatter: DateFormatter = { let formatter = DateFormatter() formatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX") return formatter }() func string(format: String) -> String { Date.formatter.dateFormat = format return Date.formatter.string(from: self) } } – Palingenesis

Answer 4

You can create a extension for easily transform a String into a NSDate.

extension NSDate {
    func dateFromString(date: String, format: String) -> NSDate {
        let formatter = NSDateFormatter()
        let locale = NSLocale(localeIdentifier: "en_US_POSIX")

        formatter.locale = locale
        formatter.dateFormat = format

        return formatter.dateFromString(date)!
    }
}

Than in your function you can NSDate().dateFromString("2015-02-04 23:29:28", format: "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss") and this should works. Input date don't need to be on the same format of output date.

func getCurrentShortDate() -> String {
    var todaysDate = NSDate().dateFromString("2015-02-04 23:29:28", format:  "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss")

    var dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
    var DateInFormat = dateFormatter.stringFromDate(todaysDate)

    return DateInFormat
}

println(getCurrentShortDate())

The output is 04-02-2015.

Evaporite

Answer 5

Swift 3

Using the extension created by @doovers and some format strings from this website, you get the following:

extension Date {
    func string(format: String) -> String {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = format
        return formatter.string(from: self)
    }
}

Usage:

Date().string(format: "EEEE, MMM d, yyyy") // Saturday, Oct 21, 2017
Date().string(format: "MM/dd/yyyy")        // 10/21/2017
Date().string(format: "MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm")  // 10-21-2017 03:31

Date().string(format: "MMM d, h:mm a")     // Oct 21, 3:31 AM
Date().string(format: "MMMM yyyy")         // October 2017
Date().string(format: "MMM d, yyyy")       // Oct 21, 2017

Date().string(format: "E, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z") // Sat, 21 Oct 2017 03:31:40 +0000
Date().string(format: "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ")   // 2017-10-21T03:31:40+0000
Date().string(format: "dd.MM.yy")                 // 21.10.17

You could also pass milliseconds to date object like this:

Date(1508577868947).string(format: "EEEE, MMM d, yyyy") // Saturday, Oct 21, 2017

Arcturus

This will create a new date formatter every time you call this method. – Palingenesis

Answer 6

Here's the way Apple suggests

    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.locale = Locale.current
    formatter.dateStyle = .short
    let dateString = formatter.string(from: date)

or if the pre-defined format of .short, .medium, .long and .full are quite right create the template in a locale

    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.locale = Locale.current
    formatter.setLocalizedDateFormatFromTemplate("MM/dd/yyyy")
    let dateString = formatter.string(from: date)

Here's the link

Psychodrama

Answer 7

 let dateformatter1 = DateFormatter()
    dateformatter1.dateFormat = "ccc, d MMM yyy"

    let dateString1 = dateformatter1.string(from: datePicker.date)
    print("Date Selected \(dateString1)")
    labelDate.text = dateString1

    let dateformatter2 = DateFormatter()
    dateformatter2.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
    let dateString2 = dateformatter2.string(from: datePicker.date)
    print("Date Selected \(dateString2)")


    let dateformatter3 = DateFormatter()
    dateformatter3.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy"
    let dateString3 = dateformatter3.string(from: datePicker.date)
    print("Date Selected \(dateString3)")

    let dateformatter4 = DateFormatter()
    dateformatter4.dateFormat = "dd MMMM yyyy hh:mm a"
    let dateString4 = dateformatter4.string(from: datePicker.date)
    print("Date Selected \(dateString4)") 

I referred this article on Codzify.com. Really helpful.

Ligialignaloes

Answer 8

Here is easiest way to change date format.

1. Create one swift class for Date extension.

extension Date {
    func today(format : String = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS") -> String {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = format
        return formatter.string(from: self)
    }
} 

2. How to use extension.

   let date = Date().today(format: "dd/MM/yy HH:mm:ss")

   print(date)

Demers

This is wrong. YYYY is for YearForWeekOfYear. You need to use yyyy. Besides that creating a DateFormatter is "expensive". This will create a new date formatter every time you call this method. Second you should always set the date formatter's locale to "en_US_POSIX" before setting the dateFormat when using a fixed date format. – Palingenesis

try this DateComponents(calendar: .current, year: 2022, month: 1, day: 1).date!.today() // "2021-12-18T03:21:18.422" You are creating a instance method and discarding self. If the date doesn't matter it is only for today declare it as static. The usage would be Date.today() – Palingenesis

if you want to keep it as an instance method and change it to return formatter.string(from: self) make sure to fix the year otherwise DateComponents(calendar: .current, year: 2022, month: 1, day: 1).date!.today() would result in "2021-01-01T00:00:00.000" – Palingenesis

I would also add the timezone to the default dateFormat "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX" and set it to UTC (zero seconds from GMT). Check this post – Palingenesis

you are still using YYYY which is wrong. This will result in wrong years when the date is in the first or last week of the year. Again you should use yyyy – Palingenesis

@LeoDabus This is just an example. You can customize it and get results as per your requirement. – Demers