Display current time in this format: HH:mm:ss

Question

I'm having some trouble displaying the time in this format: HH:mm:ss. No matter what i try, i never get it in that format.

I want the time in the culture of the Netherlands which is "nl-NL".

This was one of my (although i forgot to keep the count) 1000th try:

CultureInfo ci = new CultureInfo("nl-NL");

string s = DateTime.Now.TimeOfDay.ToString("HH:mm:ss", ci);

What am i doing wrong?

TimeSpan has a wimpy ToString() method. Changed in .NET 4.0, not for the better. Just lose "TimeofDay'. Darin got it right of course. — Hans Passant, Aug 01 '10 at 12:48

score 22 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 01 '10 at 10:46

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string s = DateTime.Now.ToString("HH:mm:ss");

answered Aug 01 '10 at 10:46

Darin Dimitrov

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Hi, I tried that one too, it adds the 'am/pm' stuff behind it. How can i prevent that? Shouldn't cultureinfo be added? – Yustme Aug 01 '10 at 11:17
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@Yustme: Don't be confused between `DateTime.Now.TimeOfDay` and `DateTime.Now` – abatishchev Aug 01 '10 at 12:07

theburningmonk · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-01T11:41:34.280

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You need to use the TimeZoneInfo class, here's how to show the current time in the Eastern Standard Time time zone in HH:mm:ss format:

var timeZone = TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("Eastern Standard Time");
string s = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTime(DateTime.Now, timeZone).ToString("HH:mm:ss");

To find all the timezones available, you can use

TimeZoneInfo.GetSystemTimeZones();

Looking through the returned value from the above, the Id for the time zone you need (Amsterdam I assume) is called W. Europe Standard Time:

var timeZone = TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("W. Europe Standard Time");
string s = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTime(DateTime.Now, timeZone).ToString("HH:mm:ss");

edited Aug 01 '10 at 11:41

answered Aug 01 '10 at 11:27

theburningmonk

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Thanks thebunringmonk! That did the trick. Can't believe how long i've been looking for a solution to fix this! – Yustme Aug 01 '10 at 16:53
@Yustme - No probs, glad I could help ;-) Globalization is not that well covered as not many of us do it, I did come across some good MSDN article on it a while back but can't seem to find the link now, will post an update if I find it again. – theburningmonk Aug 02 '10 at 11:06

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

1

TimeOfDay is a TimeSpan, which has only one ToString() without parameters. Use Darin's solution or a sample from MSDN documentation for TimeSpan.ToString()

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

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answered Aug 01 '10 at 11:02

Viktor Jevdokimov

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Here is the link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.datetime_properties.aspx – abatishchev Aug 01 '10 at 12:07

Display current time in this format: HH:mm:ss

3 Answers3