String was not recognized as a valid DateTime with the format of “MM/dd/yyy hh:mm:ss tt”

Question

I'm trying to convert a string into a DateTime in C#, but I'm getting this error:

System.FormatException: 'String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.'

The error is in the next line:

DateTime endTime = DateTime.ParseExact(endDate, "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt", null);

My endDate variable has the following info: "10/03/2017 06:52:48 AM"

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

When you use null as an IFormatProvider , all DateTime parsing methods use CurrentCulture settings of your computer.

There are a few possibilities that you get exception. For example, your CurrentCulture might not have AM as it's AMDesignator property.

Instead of that, use a proper culture like InvariantCulture .

DateTime endTime = DateTime.ParseExact("10/03/2017 06:52:48 AM", 
                                       "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt", 
                                       CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);