DateTime format

The following table lists the standard DateTime format patterns associated with DateTimeFormatInfo properties. For more information, see Standard Date and Time Format Strings.

Format pattern	Associated property/description
d	ShortDatePattern
D	LongDatePattern
f	Full date and time (long date and short time)
F	FullDateTimePattern (long date and long time)
g	General (short date and short time)
G	General (short date and long time)
m, M	MonthDayPattern
o, O	Round-trip date/time pattern; with this format pattern, the formatting or parsing operation always uses the invariant culture
r, R	RFC1123Pattern; with this format pattern, the formatting or parsing operation always uses the invariant culture
s	SortableDateTimePattern (based on ISO 8601) using local time; with this format pattern, the formatting or parsing operation always uses the invariant culture
t	ShortTimePattern
T	LongTimePattern
u	UniversalSortableDateTimePattern using the format for universal time display; with this format pattern, the formatting or parsing operation always uses the invariant culture
U	Full date and time (long date and long time) using universal time
y, Y	YearMonthPattern

The following table lists the custom DateTime format patterns and their behavior. For more information, see Custom Date and Time Format Strings.

Format pattern	Description
d, %d	The day of the month. Single-digit days do not have a leading zero. The application specifies "%d" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
dd	The day of the month. Single-digit days have a leading zero.
ddd	The abbreviated name of the day of the week, as defined in AbbreviatedDayNames.
dddd	The full name of the day of the week, as defined in DayNames.
f, %f	The fraction of a second in single-digit precision. The remaining digits are truncated. The application specifies "%f" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
ff	The fraction of a second in double-digit precision. The remaining digits are truncated.
fff	The fraction of a second in three-digit precision. The remaining digits are truncated.
ffff	The fraction of a second in four-digit precision. The remaining digits are truncated.
fffff	The fraction of a second in five-digit precision. The remaining digits are truncated.
ffffff	The fraction of a second in six-digit precision. The remaining digits are truncated.
fffffff	The fraction of a second in seven-digit precision. The remaining digits are truncated.
F, %F	Displays the most significant digit of the seconds fraction. Nothing is displayed if the digit is zero. The application specifies "%F" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
FF	Displays the two most significant digits of the seconds fraction. However, trailing zeros, or two zero digits, are not displayed.
FFF	Displays the three most significant digits of the seconds fraction. However, trailing zeros, or three zero digits, are not displayed.
FFFF	Displays the four most significant digits of the seconds fraction. However, trailing zeros, or four zero digits, are not displayed.
FFFFF	Displays the five most significant digits of the seconds fraction. However, trailing zeros, or five zero digits, are not displayed.
FFFFFF	Displays the six most significant digits of the seconds fraction. However, trailing zeros, or six zero digits, are not displayed.
FFFFFFF	Displays the seven most significant digits of the seconds fraction. However, trailing zeros, or seven zero digits, are not displayed.
gg	The period or era. This pattern is ignored if the date to be formatted does not have an associated period or era string.
h, %h	The hour in a 12-hour clock. Single-digit hours do not have a leading zero. The application specifies "%h" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
hh	The hour in a 12-hour clock. Single-digit hours have a leading zero.
H, %H	The hour in a 24-hour clock. Single-digit hours do not have a leading zero. The application specifies "%H" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
HH	The hour in a 24-hour clock. Single-digit hours have a leading zero.
K	Different values of the Kind property, that is, Local, Utc, or Unspecified.
m, %m	The minute. Single-digit minutes do not have a leading zero. The application specifies "%m" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
mm	The minute. Single-digit minutes have a leading zero.
M, %M	The numeric month. Single-digit months do not have a leading zero. The application specifies "%M" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
MM	The numeric month. Single-digit months have a leading zero.
MMM	The abbreviated name of the month, as defined in AbbreviatedMonthNames.
MMMM	The full name of the month, as defined in MonthNames.
s, %s	The second. Single-digit seconds do not have a leading zero. The application specifies "%s" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
ss	The second. Single-digit seconds have a leading zero.
t, %t	The first character in the AM/PM designator defined in AMDesignator or PMDesignator, if any. The application specifies "%t" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
tt	The AM/PM designator defined in AMDesignator or PMDesignator, if any. Your application should use this format pattern for languages for which it is necessary to maintain the distinction between AM and PM. An example is Japanese, for which the AM and PM designators differ in the second character instead of the first character.
y, %y	The year without the century. If the year without the century is less than 10, the year is displayed with no leading zero. The application specifies "%y" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
yy	The year without the century. If the year without the century is less than 10, the year is displayed with a leading zero.
yyy	The year in three digits. If the year is less than 100, the year is displayed with a leading zero.
yyyy	The year in four or five digits (depending on the calendar used), including the century. Pads with leading zeros to get four digits. Thai Buddhist and Korean calendars have five-digit years. Users selecting the "yyyy" pattern see all five digits without leading zeros for calendars that have five digits. Exception: the Japanese and Taiwan calendars always behave as if "yy" is selected.
yyyyy	The year in five digits. Pads with leading zeros to get five digits. Exception: the Japanese and Taiwan calendars always behave as if "yy" is selected.
yyyyyy	The year in six digits. Pads with leading zeros to get six digits. Exception: the Japanese and Taiwan calendars always behave as if "yy" is selected. The pattern can be continued with a longer string of "y"s padding with more leading zeros.
z, %z	The time zone offset ("+" or "-" followed by the hour only). Single-digit hours do not have a leading zero. For example, Pacific Standard Time is "-8". The application specifies "%z" if the format pattern is not combined with other format patterns.
zz	The time zone offset ("+" or "-" followed by the hour only). Single-digit hours have a leading zero. For example, Pacific Standard Time is "-08".
zzz	The full time zone offset ("+" or "-" followed by the hour and minutes). Single-digit hours and minutes have leading zeros. For example, Pacific Standard Time is "-08:00".
:	The default time separator defined in TimeSeparator.
/	The default date separator defined in DateSeparator.
% c	Where c is a format pattern if used alone. To use format pattern "d", "f", "F", "h", "m", "s", "t", "y", "z", "H", or "M" by itself, the application specifies "%d", "%f", "%F", "%h", "%m", "%s", "%t", "%y", "%z", "%H", or "%M". The "%" character can be omitted if the format pattern is combined with literal characters or other format patterns.
\ c	Where c is any character. Displays the character literally. To display the backslash character, the application should use "\\".