Getting Wrong DateTime Format

Question

I have this:

var dateString = string.Format("{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", date);

But dateString is 13.05.2011 instead of 13/05/2011. Can you help me?

Answer 1

You could use DateTime.ToString with CultureInfo.InvariantCulture instead:

var dateString = date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

The reason why / is replaced with . is that / is a custom format specifier

The "/" custom format specifier represents the date separator, which is used to differentiate years, months, and days. The appropriate localized date separator is retrieved from the DateTimeFormatInfo.DateSeparator property of the current or specified culture.

So either use InvariantCulture which uses / as date separator or - more appropriate - escape this format specifier by embedding it within ':

var dateString = date.ToString("dd'/'MM'/'yyyy");

Why this is more appropriate? Because you can still apply the local culture, f.e. if you want to output the month names, but you force / as date separator anyway.