The following examples are mostly based on the time December 14th, 2008 4:35 PM UTC.
Year
| Characters | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
y |
2008 |
Year, no padding |
|
yy |
08 |
Year, two digits (padding with a zero if necessary) |
|
yyyy |
2008 |
Year, minimum of four digits (padding with zeros if necessary) |
Quarter
| Characters | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Q |
4 |
The quarter of the year. Use QQ if you want zero padding |
|
QQQ |
Q4 |
Quarter including "Q" |
|
QQQQ |
4th quarter |
Quarter spelled out |
Month
| Characters | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
M |
12 |
The numeric month of the year. A single M will use "1" for January |
|
MM |
12 |
The numeric month of the year. A double M will use "01" for January |
|
MMM |
Dec |
The shorthand name of the month |
|
MMMM |
December |
The full name of the month |
|
MMMMM |
D |
The narrow name of the month |
Day
| Characters | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
d |
14 |
The day of the month. A single d will use 1 for January 1st |
|
dd |
14 |
The day of the month. A double d will use 01 for January 1st |
|
F |
3rd Tuesday in December |
The day of week in the month |
|
E |
Tues |
The shorthand name of the day |
|
EEEE |
Tuesday |
The full name of the day |
|
EEEEE |
T |
The narrow day of week |
Hour
| Characters | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
h |
4 |
The 12-hour hour |
|
hh |
04 |
The 12-hour hour padding with a zero if there is only 1 digit |
|
H |
16 |
The 24-hour hour |
|
HH |
16 |
The 24-hour hour padding with a zero if there is only 1 digit |
|
a |
PM |
AM / PM for 12-hour time formats |
Minute
| Characters | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
m |
35 |
The minute, with no padding for zeroes |
|
mm |
35 |
The minute with zero padding |
Second
| Characters | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
s |
8 |
The seconds, with no padding for zeroes |
|
ss |
08 |
The seconds with zero padding |
Time Zone
| Characters | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
zzz |
CST |
The 3 letter name of the time zone. Falls back to GMT-08:00 (hour offset) if the name is not known |
|
zzzz |
Central Standard Time |
The expanded time zone name, falls back to GMT-08:00 (hour offset) if name is not known |
|
ZZZZ |
CST-06:00 |
Time zone with abbreviation and offset |
|
Z |
-0600 |
RFC 822 GMT format. Can also match a literal Z for Zulu (UTC) time |
|
ZZZZZ |
-06:00 |
ISO 8601 time zone format |
Notes
- Based on NSDateFormatter.com and Date Format Patterns on Unicode.org