DateTimeFormatInfo.LongDatePattern Property

Definition

Gets or sets the custom format string for a long date value.

public string LongDatePattern { get; set; }

Property Value

The custom format string for a long date value.

Exceptions

The property is being set to null.

The property is being set and the DateTimeFormatInfo object is read-only.

Examples

The following example displays the value of the LongDatePattern property for a few cultures.

using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class SamplesDTFI  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // Displays the values of the pattern properties.
      Console.WriteLine( " CULTURE    PROPERTY VALUE" );
      PrintPattern( "en-US" );
      PrintPattern( "ja-JP" );
      PrintPattern( "fr-FR" );
   }

   public static void PrintPattern( String myCulture )  {

      DateTimeFormatInfo myDTFI = new CultureInfo( myCulture, false ).DateTimeFormat;
      Console.WriteLine( "  {0}     {1}", myCulture, myDTFI.LongDatePattern );
   }
}

/*
This code produces the following output. Note that the exact output format depends on the OS, the OS version, and the native globalization library used by the OS.

 CULTURE    PROPERTY VALUE
  en-US     dddd, MMMM d, yyyy
  ja-JP     yyyy年M月d日dddd
  fr-FR     dddd d MMMM yyyy

*/

Remarks

The LongDatePattern property defines the culture-specific format of date strings that are returned by calls to the DateTime.ToString and DateTimeOffset.ToString methods and by composite format strings that are supplied the "D" standard format string. The following example illustrates the relationships among the following: the "D" standard format string, the custom format string returned by the LongDatePattern property, and the culture-specific representation of a date.

using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class Example1
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      DateTime date1 = new DateTime(2011, 11, 12);
      string[] cultureNames = { "en-US", "fr-FR", "ru-RU", "de-DE" };
      Console.WriteLine("{0,-7} {1,-20} {2:D}\n", "Culture", "Long Date Pattern", "Date");
      foreach (var cultureName in cultureNames) {
         CultureInfo culture = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture(cultureName);
         Console.WriteLine("{0,-7} {1,-20} {2}",
                           culture.Name,
                           culture.DateTimeFormat.LongDatePattern,
                           date1.ToString("D", culture));
      }
   }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//    Culture Long Date Pattern    Date
//
//    en-US   dddd, MMMM d, yyyy   Saturday, November 12, 2011
//    fr-FR   dddd d MMMM yyyy     samedi 12 novembre 2011
//    ru-RU   d MMMM yyyy 'г.'     12 ноября 2011 г.
//    de-DE   dddd, d. MMMM yyyy   Samstag, 12. November 2011

See Custom Date and Time Format Strings for individual custom format specifiers that can be combined to construct custom format strings such as "dddd, dd MMMM yyyy".

You should set the date separator in the long date pattern to an exact string instead of using the date separator placeholder. For example, to obtain the pattern MM-DD-yyyy, set the long date pattern to "MM-DD-yyyy".

The value of this property may change if the calendar used by a culture changes. For instance, the following example shows how the LongDatePattern property of a CultureInfo object that represents the Arabic (Syria) culture changes when the Calendar object used by the culture changes.

using System;
using System.Globalization;
using System.IO;

public class Example2
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      DateTime date1 = new DateTime(2011, 8, 7);
      CultureInfo ci = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("ar-SY");
      StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(@".\arSYCalendars.txt");

      sw.WriteLine("{0,-32} {1,-21} {2}\n",
                   "Calendar", "Long Date Pattern", "Example Date");
      foreach (var cal in ci.OptionalCalendars) {
         ci.DateTimeFormat.Calendar = cal;
         sw.WriteLine("{0,-32} {1,-21} {2}", GetCalendarName(cal),
                                             ci.DateTimeFormat.LongDatePattern,
                                             date1.ToString("D", ci));
      }
      sw.Close();
   }

   private static string GetCalendarName(Calendar cal)
   {
      string calName;
      calName = cal.GetType().Name.Substring(0, cal.GetType().Name.IndexOf("Cal"));
      if (calName.Equals("Gregorian")) {
         GregorianCalendar grCal = cal as GregorianCalendar;
         calName += String.Format("-{0}", grCal.CalendarType);
      }
      return calName;
   }
}
// The example generates the following output:
//    Calendar                         Long Date Pattern     Example Date
//
//    Gregorian-Localized              dd MMMM, yyyy         07 آب, 2011
//    UmAlQura                         dd/MMMM/yyyy          07/رمضان/1432
//    Hijri                            dd MMMM, yyyy         08 رمضان, 1432
//    Gregorian-USEnglish              dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy   Sunday, August 07, 2011
//    Gregorian-MiddleEastFrench       dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy   dimanche, août 07, 2011
//    Gregorian-TransliteratedEnglish  dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy   الأحد, أغسطس 07, 2011
//    Gregorian-TransliteratedFrench   dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy   الأحد, أوت 07, 2011

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

See also