TryParseExact returns false, though I don't know why

Question

Method TryParseExact in code block below returns true.
I would like to know why.
I think this date "2013.03.12" is invalid because this is not separated by slash but dot.

After I changed the CultureInfo "de-De" to "en-US", the method returns false. This could be a hint but I still don't know why this happens.

var format = new string[] { "yyyy/MM/dd" };
var parsed = new DateTime();
var result = DateTime.TryParseExact("2013.03.12", format, 
             new CultureInfo("de-DE"), DateTimeStyles.None, out parsed);

BTW: `2013.03.12` is not a valid/usual German date format. `12.03.2013` would be. — Uwe Keim, Nov 27 '14 at 14:55

score 17 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 31 '19 at 14:48

17

I think your current DateSeparator is . (dot) and / automatically replace itself to it.

/ separator has a special meaning of "replace me with the current culture's date separator".

CultureInfo c = new CultureInfo("de-DE");
Console.WriteLine(c.DateTimeFormat.DateSeparator); //Prints . (dot)

Take a look at the "/" Custom Format Specifier.

edited Dec 31 '19 at 14:48

Ian Kemp

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answered Aug 21 '13 at 06:33

Soner Gönül

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Very interesting, didn't know that – Sergey Berezovskiy Aug 21 '13 at 06:35
@lazyberezovsky Yeah, I wasn't aware of this either since Tim Schmelter [points](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17526239/converting-datetime-to-string/17526314#comment25485437_17526239) this situation almost a month ago. – Soner Gönül Aug 21 '13 at 06:41
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Thank you so much. Sometimes, I don't have to define formats by country in this specification. – Nigiri Aug 21 '13 at 07:12

score 7 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

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As @Soner Gönül points out, the / is taken as "the date separator" in custom format strings. If you want to only accept / characters, you need to escape them:

var format = new string[] { @"yyyy\/MM\/dd" };

edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

Community

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answered Aug 21 '13 at 06:41

Damien_The_Unbeliever

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A @ please before the " – xanatos Aug 21 '13 at 06:44

TryParseExact returns false, though I don't know why

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