DateTime.ParseExact always gives me date in dd/MM/yyyy, even though my string is in yyyy/MM/dd

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1

Hey everyone,

My question seems simple to solve however I haven’t been lucky so far. I’m using a Get Text activity to get the following from a web page. Since I only want the date, I use String.Substring(18).TrimEnd successfully.
image

But afterwards I want to convert this to an actual date format, so I can check if it is located between two other dates. The problem is when I do DateTime.ParseExact(String, “yyyy/MM/dd”, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture), the date comes back in dd/MM/yyyy, and I need it in the original format.

Any ideas?
Thanks a lot

2

Hi @guilherme.rebordao

You have to change the format after this, what you are currently doing.
You can use this statement:
for example you save the result date after trim in variable: dateWeb
dateWeb.ToString(“yyyy/MM/dd”)

Please watch also this video to learn more about converting the date formatting: UiPath | Date Formatting | Convert date to String | Get date format | yyyy.MM.dd | dd.MM.yyyy - YouTube

Best regards
Mahmoud

3

Thank you. But then won’t this result in a string? I would like to get the final result in a Date format so I can compare with other dates. Is there a way to do this?

4

You have then to convert the string variable to date.
CDate(dateWeb).

Best regards
Mahmoud

5

@guilherme.rebordao

Check below for your reference

Reference

Hope this may help you

Thanks

6

Have you tried - Datetime.Parse(yourVariable).tostring(“yyyy/MM/dd”).
This will give your date in the same format.

1 Like
7

He needs the variable to be a date?

8

datetime variables don’t have a format. The only time you see a format is when you output it as a string.

You control the format in the ToString parameter:

DateTime.ParseExact(String, “yyyy/MM/dd”, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture).ToString(“MM/dd/yyyy”)

DateTime.ParseExact(String, “yyyy/MM/dd”, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture).ToString(“dd_MM_yyyy”)

etc

The “yyyy/MM/dd” you’re passing to ParseExact is telling it how to read the input string, not telling it how to store the datetime value.

1 Like
9

U can parse it get it in , dd/MM/yyyy do the comparison with other dates and then if you need the result in your initial format , give the output format as , youroutput.tostring(“yyyy/Mm/dd”)

10

Hie @guilherme.rebordao Hope my logic work for you. try and run it
Here’s Sample ScreenShot
This image shows a sequence in a workflow automation tool where a date string is first assigned a value and then formatted into a specific date format. (Captioned by AI)

The image shows a sequence of actions in a workflow where a DateTime variable is being assigned and then converted to string for output in a Write Line activity. (Captioned by AI)

DateTime.ParseExact(strDate, “yyyy/MM/dd”, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture).ToString(“yyyy/MM/dd”)

cheers Happy Automation.