Date format for 2008-02-01T10:03:23.793-06:00

Question

In my project i am getting "2008-02-01T10:03:23.793-06:00" this date format in string i have to convert into NSDate i am using

NSDateFormatter* dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"]; 

NSDate* dateFromString = [dateFormatter dateFromString:@"2008-02-01T10:03:23.793-06:00"];

But when i am print date value using NSLog i am getting value as null.

Please help me out

Thank You

Answer 1

NSDateFormatter won't be able to parse it, because the timezone doesn't conform with RFC 822 or GMT standard. The problem is on the last ":" to have it you need the "GMT".

The date that you have respects the RFC 3339.

You will need to use a NSFormatter to parse it. You should use getObjectValue:forString:errorDescription:

Set the string @"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ".

Answer 2

    NSDateFormatter* formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZZZ"];
[formatter setLenient:YES];
NSString* buggeredTime = [[sourceDate substringToIndex:26] stringByAppendingString:[sourceDate substringFromIndex:27]];
NSDate* dueDate = [formatter dateFromString:buggeredTime];
[formatter setDateFormat:@"'Time Due: 'hh:mm a  MM/dd/yy"];
NSString* dateString = [formatter stringFromDate:dueDate];
[formatter release];

(Dunno offhand if the setLenient is needed.)

Answer 3

Just use that instead (note the "ZZZ" instead of "Z"):

[formatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZZZ"];

Answer 4

I think you need to set a locale for the formatter too. Have a look here

Answer 5

Google's GData Objective-C Client has a class (GDataDateTime) that can parse RFC 3339 dates.

http://code.google.com/p/gdata-objectivec-client/source/browse/trunk/Source/Elements/GDataDateTime.m