NSDateFormatter not recognizing timezone

Question

I have this date:

2013-07-15T06:07:53-04:00

I use NSDateFormatter to convert this to NSDate:

    [formatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZZZZZ"];

This works but it doesn't recognize the timezone. It returns:

2013-07-15 10:07:53 +0000

What am i doing wrong?

Thanks

@Kasaname not explicitly setting any timezone. Isn't the date formatter suppose to get it from the date string? — 0xSina, Jul 15 '13 at 06:51

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 15 '13 at 06:57

The log output is correct. NSLogging an NSDate will always show that date/time in UTC (see how your output has +0000 instead of -04:00). NSDate objects represent a specific moment in time regardless of calendar and timezones. You use this "moment in time" in conjunction with a formatter (with a timezone set) in order to format that "moment in time" into a locale-specific time.

If you want to see log the output with your own timezone:

// pick a different timezone if necessary
[formatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone localTimeZone]];

NSLog(@"%@", [formatter stringFromDate:momentInTime];

Abdullah Shafique · Answer 2 · 2013-07-15T06:59:36.813

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Try this instead:

[formatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZZZ"];

edited Jul 15 '13 at 06:59

answered Jul 15 '13 at 06:50

Abdullah Shafique

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this doesnot work . the format is wrong and if u use it it will give a null valuye – Kasaname Jul 15 '13 at 06:55

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 15 '13 at 06:51

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isn't the "-04:00" at the end of the string telling NSDateFormatter that this date is GMT-4 and thus, it's just converting it to GMT ?

If not, please provide the full initialization of your NSDateFormatter.

answered Jul 15 '13 at 06:51

teriiehina

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score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

0

more info here

iPhone NSDateFormatter Timezone Conversion

5 ZZZZZ - heres a category I wrote with some sample of GMT to BST

https://github.com/clearbrian/NSDateFormatter_ISO_8601

edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

Community

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answered Mar 04 '14 at 13:41

brian.clear

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NSDateFormatter not recognizing timezone

4 Answers4