Swift Convert date string to Date

Question

I got a date string from server side, which is Tue, 28 May 2019 13:24:06 +0000. I tried to do following:

let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateStyle = .full
let date = dateFormatter.date(from: "Tue, 28 May 2019 13:24:06 +0000")

result is nil

How can I convert a string like this to a Date?

You may also want to look at nsdateformatter.com for reference — MadProgrammer
– MadProgrammer, Commented May 29, 2019 at 6:31

rmaddy · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-29 06:30:53Z

5

You need to set a specific dateFormat. And when doing so, set the date formatter's locale to en_US_POSIX.

let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z"
let date = dateFormatter.date(from: "Tue, 28 May 2019 13:24:06 +0000")

See the documentation for dateFormat for links that take you a full description of what all of the format specifiers mean.

Keep in mind that when converting a Date to a String for display to the user, then using date and time styles is the best solution. But for parsing a String into a Date, use dateFormat.

answered May 29, 2019 at 6:30

rmaddy

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4 Comments

steveluoxin Over a year ago

It worked, even without specifying local. Thanks. Is there any generic approach to parse any type of date string? Let's say, user add a new rss feed which I couldn't know the type of date string from this new feed in advance

rmaddy Over a year ago

You need to specify this special locale, otherwise your code will fail for many users, especially if their device is setup for a non-English language.

rmaddy Over a year ago

Look into NSDataDetector as a possible way to handle strings with unknown date formats.

steveluoxin Over a year ago

All right. I will look into NSDataDetector , and specify locale in my code. Thanks again!

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