Article
11/18/2011

DateTimeOffset.Parse Method (String)

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Converts the specified string representation of a date, time, and offset to its DateTimeOffset equivalent.

Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Shared Function Parse ( _
    input As String _
) As DateTimeOffset

public static DateTimeOffset Parse(
    string input
)

Parameters

input
Type: System.String
A string that contains a date and time to convert.

Return Value

Type: System.DateTimeOffset
An object that is equivalent to the date and time that is contained in input.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
ArgumentException	The offset is greater than 14 hours or less than -14 hours.
ArgumentNullException	input is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
FormatException	input does not contain a valid string representation of a date and time. -or- input contains the string representation of an offset value without a date or time.

ArgumentException

The offset is greater than 14 hours or less than -14 hours.

ArgumentNullException

input is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

FormatException

input does not contain a valid string representation of a date and time.

-or-

input contains the string representation of an offset value without a date or time.

Remarks

Parse(String) parses a string with three elements that can appear in any order and are delimited by white space. These three elements are as shown in the following table.

Element	Example
<Date>	"2/10/2007"
<Time>	"1:02:03 PM"
<Offset>	"-7:30:15"

Although each of these elements is optional, <Offset> cannot appear by itself. It must be provided together with either <Date> or <Time>. If <Date> is missing, its default value is the current day. If <Time> is missing, its default value is 12:00:00 AM. If <Offset> is missing, its default value is the offset of the local time zone. <Offset> can represent either a negative or a positive offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). In either case, <Offset> must include a sign symbol.

The input string is parsed by using the formatting information in a DateTimeFormatInfo object that is initialized for the current culture. This means that the input parameter must contain the current culture's representation of a date and time. To parse a string that contains designated formatting that does not necessarily correspond to the formatting of the current culture, use the ParseExact method and provide a format specifier.

Examples

The following example calls the Parse(String) method to parse several date and time strings. The example includes output from March 22, 2007, on a system whose culture is en-us.

Dim dateString As String
Dim offsetDate As DateTimeOffset

' String with date only
dateString = "05/01/2008"
offsetDate = DateTimeOffset.Parse(dateString)
outputBlock.Text &= offsetDate.ToString() & vbCrLf   ' Displays 5/1/2008 12:00:00 AM -07:00  

' String with time only
dateString = "11:36 PM"
offsetDate = DateTimeOffset.Parse(dateString)
outputBlock.Text &= offsetDate.ToString() & vbCrLf   ' Displays 3/26/2007 11:36:00 PM -07:00

' String with date and offset 
dateString = "05/01/2008 +7:00"
offsetDate = DateTimeOffset.Parse(dateString)
outputBlock.Text &= offsetDate.ToString() & vbCrLf   ' Displays 5/1/2008 12:00:00 AM +07:00

' String with day abbreviation
dateString = "Thu May 01, 2008"
offsetDate = DateTimeOffset.Parse(dateString)
outputBlock.Text &= offsetDate.ToString() & vbCrLf   ' Displays 5/1/2008 12:00:00 AM -07:00

string dateString;
DateTimeOffset offsetDate;

// String with date only
dateString = "05/01/2008";
offsetDate = DateTimeOffset.Parse(dateString);
outputBlock.Text += offsetDate.ToString() + "\n";

// String with time only
dateString = "11:36 PM";
offsetDate = DateTimeOffset.Parse(dateString);
outputBlock.Text += offsetDate.ToString() + "\n";

// String with date and offset 
dateString = "05/01/2008 +1:00";
offsetDate = DateTimeOffset.Parse(dateString);
outputBlock.Text += offsetDate.ToString() + "\n";

// String with day abbreviation
dateString = "Thu May 01, 2008";
offsetDate = DateTimeOffset.Parse(dateString);
outputBlock.Text += offsetDate.ToString() + "\n";

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.