All about Datetime - UiPath

[Palaniyappan (Palaniyappan P)]

Hi All,

My recent post on datatable [All About Datatable- UiPath] (https://forum.uipath.com/t/all-about-datatable-uipath/386445) was received well in forum with great feedbacks and many suggested to provide some tutorial on topics which are discussed often in our forum

In regards to that I would like to share the commonly used expression for DATETIME conversion

Let’s get started one by one

1. Get Current Date in string format

Datetime.Now.ToString()

(Output - string type - “dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss”)

**To get only current datetime as a variable **

Datetime.Now

(Output - Datetime variable)

2. Get different formats of datetime as string type

Get current day alone - numerical terms

Datetime.Now.ToString(“dd”)

** Get current day - full text**

Datetime.Now.ToString(“dddd”)

Get Current month - full name

Datetime.Now.ToString(“MMMM”)

Get current month - first three characters

Datetime.Now.ToString(“MMM”)

Get current month - numerical value

Datetime.Now.ToString(“MM”)

Get current year - full year

Datetime.Now.ToString(“yyyy”)

Get current year - last two characters

Datetime.Now.ToString(“yy”)

Get current time - in 12 hrs format

Datetime.Now.ToString(“hh:mm:ss”)

get current time - in 24 hours format

Datetime.Now.ToString(“HH:mm:ss”)

Get current hour alone - 12 hrs format

Datetime.Now.ToString(“hh”)

Get current hours alone - 24 hours format

Datetime.Now.ToString(“HH”)

Get Current minutes

Datetime.Now.ToString(“mm”)

Get current seconds

Datetime.Now.ToString(“ss”)

3. Get current Datetime as string with TIMEZONE

Datetime.Now.ToString(“dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss K”)

4. Get current Datetime with AM / PM

Datetime.Now.ToString(“dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt”)

5. Convert a string to Datetime

If input is Strinput = “12/02/2022”

with Convert.ToDatetime method

var_datetime = Convert.ToDatetime(Strinput.ToString)

with Datetime.Parse method

var_datetime = Datetime.Parse(Strinput.ToString)

with Datetime.ParseExact method

var_datetime = Datetime.ParseExact(Strinput.ToString, “dd/MM/yyyy”, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)

In the above last expression dd/MM/yyyy depends on what format the Strinput variable holds
It has to be same as that
So based on what format we find in string input variable mention the same format instead of “dd/MM/yyyy” in last expression

Note : if you want tour above expression as string output type then include .ToString atlast of the expression

Suppose If the input is of full format

Strinput = “23/11/2022 02:20:31 +5:30”

Then to get this as Datetime

var_datetime = Datetime.ParseExact(Strinput.ToString, “dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss K”)

6. Validate whether a Datetime is valid date

type or not

bool_date = DateTime.TryParseExact(strinput.ToString,“MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss”, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.None, Nothing)

This gives Boolean as output type and validate whether the string input matches with the format mention within double quotes (“MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss”)

7. Convert a String of multiple possible date formats to a Datetime variable

Say you have a date string which can be of different formats for each time it is being used like
“dd/MM/yyyy”, “MM/dd/yyyy”, “dd/yy”

Then have all these possible formats in a array variable named arr_formats

Like this

arr_formats = {“dd/MM/yyyy”, “MM/dd/yyyy”, “dd/yy”}

Then to convert that string as Datetime

var_datetime = DateTime.ParseExact(Strinput.ToString, arr_formats, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None)

8. Convert a string to Datetime of specific culture info

Say Strinput = “12-22-2022”

To get it as German time and details

str_datetime = Datetime.ParseExact(Strinput.ToString, “MM-dd-yyyy”, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture).ToString(“dd/MM/yyyy”, New CultureInfo(“de-DE”))

We can mention any time zone info along CultureInfo arguments like above

9. Convert DateTime variables between UTC and Local or a specific timezone

Refer this wonderful thread on converting a Datetime to specific timezone

https://forum.uipath.com/t/solution-on-how-to-convert-datetime-variables-between-utc-and-local-or-a-specific-timezone/191318

10. Difference in days between two dates

If Strinput = “12-Jan-2022”

int_days = DateDiff(DateInterval.Day, DateTime.ParseExact(Strinput.ToString, "dd-MMM-yyyy", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture),DateTime.now())

11. Difference in months between two dates

If Strinput = “12-Jan-2022”

int_months = DateDiff(DateInterval.Month, DateTime.ParseExact(Strinput.ToString, "dd-MMM-yyyy", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture),DateTime.now())

Same for years replace Month as Year in above expression
Like this

If Strinput = “12-Jan-2022”

int_years = DateDiff(DateInterval.Year, DateTime.ParseExact(Strinput.ToString, "dd-MMM-yyyy", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture),DateTime.now())

12. Get first date of the current month

str_firstdate = New DateTime(DateTime.Now.Year, DateTime.Now.Month, 1).ToString

13. Get Last date of the current month

str_lastedate = New DateTime(now.Year, now.Month, DateTime.DaysInMonth(now.Year, now.Month)).ToString

14. Get last date of previous month

str_lastdate = New DateTime(now.Year,now.Month,1).AddDays(-1).ToString

15. Get first date of the year

str_firstdate = New DateTime(now.Year,1,1).ToString

16. Get last date of the year

Str_lastdate = New DateTime(now.Year,12,31).ToString

17. Calculate business days of a year

Refer this custom component

https://marketplace.uipath.com/listings/calculate-business-days

18. Get next - previous business working day

Refer this custom component

https://marketplace.uipath.com/listings/get-next-previous-working-day

19. Filter DATETIME in excel or a Datatable

When I started learning for filtering Datetime in a datatable, I referred this thread with simple method to do Datetime filteration
Have a view on the sample xaml for more details

https://forum.uipath.com/t/filter-datatable-contains-datetime/55867/3

20. Add hours to current time

str_datetime = Datetime.Now.AddHours(1).ToString()

add 5 Days

str_datetime = Datetime.Now.AddDays(5).ToString()

add 10 years to current date

str_datetime = Datetime.Now.AddYears(10).ToString()

Same for months as well

21. Minus days from current day

str_datetime = Datetime.Now.AddDays(-1).ToString()

Subtract 5 months from current month

str_datetime = Datetime.Now.AddMonths(-5).ToString()

Subtract 10 years from current year

str_datetime = Datetime.Now.AddYears(-10).ToString()

22. Convert a OADate in excel to a Datetime or string Datetime

Suppose Actual value being entered: ‘43800’ but the required value is “1-Dev-2022” in format “dd-MMM-yyyy”

Then use this in assign activity

str_datetime = DateTime.FromOADate(Convert.ToDouble(Strinput.ToString)).ToString(“dd-MMM-yyyy”)

23. Difference string formats from a Datetime

While converting a Datetime to string apart from user defined string formats there are other string formats obtained from these below methods instead of ToString in Datetime.ParseExact(……).ToString()

.ToOADate()
.ToLongDateString()
.ToShortDateString()
.ToLongTimeString()
.ToShortTimeString()
.ToString()
.ToUniversalTime()
.ToFileTime()
.ToLocalTime()

24. Create a TimeSpan variable with default value initialised in variable panel

TimeSpan var_interval = new TimeSpan(2, 14, 18)

The default value attributed to a TimeSpan variable uses the day.hh:mm:ss format.

25. Convert a string to TimeSpan

If Strinput = “12:20:45”

var_timespan = TimeSpan.Parse(Strinput.ToString)

26. Convert different time values to TimeSpan

If we have time values in milliseconds, hours, days, and in order to convert that to TimeSpan

var_TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(1000)
var_TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromDays(1)
var_TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromHours(2)
var_TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(30)
var_TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(20)
var_TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromTicks(10000)

——————————————————————-

Hope this will be helpful

Questions

For questions on your retrieval case open a new topic and get individual support

Feedback

Share the scenarios and solution or approach used to solve that, here below to this post which would definitely help others looking for similar scenario

Cheers @loginerror @Forum_Moderators_2024 @advanced
@orchestrator

[Shikhar_Tandon]

Great Information!! @Palaniyappan

Thanks for this !!

[Gokul001 (Gokul Balaji)]

Great Job

Thanks for this valuable post @Palaniyappan

[kirankumar.mahanthi1 (Kirankumar Mahanthi)]

Very helpful buddy @Palaniyappan. thanks for sharing.

[arivu96 (Arivazhagan A)]

Great @Palaniyappan , useful information to get all date format information Thank you.

[Steven_McKeering]

Thanks @Palaniyappan I have bookmarked for my own use and to share in the forums

This is a great post and I am sure it will be used frequently!

[Marian_B (Marian)]

Thanks for the wonderful information @Palaniyappan

[emontes]

wonderful post, thanks!!!

[satish.prasad]

This is great Post @Palaniyappan …it covers everything you need to know as developer. Saving hundred of hours by putting everything together.

[bkreinb (Barry)]

I am attempting to pull just the day of month from datetime. The “dd” option works but I wanted it without a leading zero so i used “d” which is an option according to microsoft. In UiPath using just “d” is giving me a full date instead of just the day.

Example
datetime = 04/01/2022
datetimeDate.ToString(“d”) giving “04/01/2022”
datetimeDate.ToString(“dd”) giving “01”

is there a different option in UiPath to get the day without leading zero?

[roberto.piccolli]

@Palaniyappan Great information! Saved my day. Thanks a million

[mazhar.hussain]

Thank you so much to make community warriors life easy.

[Midhun.Suresh (Midhun Suresh Chiramaparambil)]

Hi all,
I have a use case in which the ui element is selected based on the format “month.year”. I tried creating a string variable: Month_Year and save the current month and year using the syntax: datetime.Now.ToString(“MM.yyyy”). But when tried testing it by displaying the variable in a message box, nothing is being displayed.

Output :

Thanks in advance.

Regards
Midhun

[kuldeep.shinde]

@Palaniyappan

Datetime.Now.ToString()

I have Question Like, I tried this “now.ToString(“d-MM-yyyy”)” it gives output 3-2-2023. but question is will the Single d in dd-MM-yyyy will give all the dates in a month like? and single M will give the all Months like 1 to 12?

[mateuszmacheta]

My colleague highlighted interesting bug: when using .ToString(“d”) it returns the whole date, not a day without leading zero. Let’s say the date in now variable is the 27th of April, 2023. So we expect "now.ToString(“d”) to return “27”, when it actually returns “04/27/2023”.

Bug is also mentioned here: I want to take date as 1 instead of 01 please help - #14 by keTan

The workaround proposed in that topic was to use .Day.ToString()
I’ve found out that you may also use .ToString(“%d”)

[efelantti]

Actually, it’s not a bug, please check Custom date and time format strings | Microsoft Learn - https://learn.microsoft.com/:

A custom date and time format string consists of two or more characters. Date and time formatting methods interpret any single-character string as a standard date and time format string. If they don’t recognize the character as a valid format specifier, they throw a FormatException. For example, a format string that consists only of the specifier “h” is interpreted as a standard date and time format string. However, in this particular case, an exception is thrown because there is no “h” standard date and time format specifier.

“d” in your case is interpreted as “Short date pattern” (Standard date and time format strings | Microsoft Learn - https://learn.microsoft.com/).

[mateuszmacheta]

Thank you @efelantti - I’ve acutally came back here to post a link to Custom date and time format strings | Microsoft Learn

[olivia.martin]

@Palaniyappan

te a TimeSpan

This is amazing thank you so much for this!!

[J0ska]

str_firstdaylastmonth = New DateTime(now.Year,now.Month,1).AddMonths(-1).ToString

Simple, isn’t?
Cheers

[raghu_vamshi1 (raghu vamshi)]

Hello @Palaniyappan ,

Thanks for this detailed guide but somehow I am always getting error using any of these commands in the Assign activities to extract current month in "MM"and year “yyyy” format.
And DateTime.Now.ToString isn’t working at all.
only now.ToString is working for me.
Could this be a version issue?