CultureInfo.DateTimeFormat Property

Definition

Gets or sets a DateTimeFormatInfo that defines the culturally appropriate format of displaying dates and times.

C#
public virtual System.Globalization.DateTimeFormatInfo DateTimeFormat { get; set; }

Property Value

A DateTimeFormatInfo that defines the culturally appropriate format of displaying dates and times.

Exceptions

The property is set to null.

The DateTimeFormat property or any of the DateTimeFormatInfo properties is set, and the CultureInfo is read-only.

Examples

The following code example shows that CultureInfo.Clone also clones the DateTimeFormatInfo and NumberFormatInfo instances associated with the CultureInfo.

C#
using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class SamplesCultureInfo  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // Creates and initializes a CultureInfo.
      CultureInfo myCI = new CultureInfo("en-US", false);

      // Clones myCI and modifies the DTFI and NFI instances associated with the clone.
      CultureInfo myCIclone = (CultureInfo) myCI.Clone();
      myCIclone.DateTimeFormat.AMDesignator = "a.m.";
      myCIclone.DateTimeFormat.DateSeparator = "-";
      myCIclone.NumberFormat.CurrencySymbol = "USD";
      myCIclone.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalDigits = 4;

      // Displays the properties of the DTFI and NFI instances associated with the original and with the clone.
      Console.WriteLine( "DTFI/NFI PROPERTY\tORIGINAL\tMODIFIED CLONE" );
      Console.WriteLine( "DTFI.AMDesignator\t{0}\t\t{1}", myCI.DateTimeFormat.AMDesignator, myCIclone.DateTimeFormat.AMDesignator );
      Console.WriteLine( "DTFI.DateSeparator\t{0}\t\t{1}", myCI.DateTimeFormat.DateSeparator, myCIclone.DateTimeFormat.DateSeparator );
      Console.WriteLine( "NFI.CurrencySymbol\t{0}\t\t{1}", myCI.NumberFormat.CurrencySymbol, myCIclone.NumberFormat.CurrencySymbol );
      Console.WriteLine( "NFI.NumberDecimalDigits\t{0}\t\t{1}", myCI.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalDigits, myCIclone.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalDigits );
   }
}

/*
This code produces the following output.

DTFI/NFI PROPERTY       ORIGINAL        MODIFIED CLONE
DTFI.AMDesignator       AM              a.m.
DTFI.DateSeparator      /               -
NFI.CurrencySymbol      $               USD
NFI.NumberDecimalDigits 2               4

*/

Remarks

You might choose to override some of the values associated with the current culture of Windows through the regional and language options portion of Control Panel. For example, the user might choose to display the date in a different format or to use a currency other than the default for the culture.

If UseUserOverride is true and the specified culture matches the current culture of Windows, the CultureInfo uses those overrides, including user settings for the properties of the DateTimeFormatInfo instance returned by the DateTimeFormat property, and the properties of the NumberFormatInfo instance returned by the NumberFormat property. If the user settings are incompatible with the culture associated with the CultureInfo, for example, if the selected calendar is not one of the OptionalCalendars, the results of the methods and the values of the properties are undefined.

The value of the DateTimeFormat property and the NumberFormat property is not calculated until your application accesses the property. If the user can change the current culture to a new culture while the application is running and then the application accesses the DateTimeFormat or NumberFormat property, the application retrieves the defaults for the new culture instead of the overrides for the original culture. To preserve the overrides for the original current culture, the application should access the DateTimeFormat and NumberFormat properties before changing the current culture.

Notes to Callers

If Calendar is the TaiwanCalendar but the CurrentCulture is not set to Chinese (Taiwan), named zh-TW, then NativeCalendarName, GetEraName(Int32), and GetAbbreviatedEraName(Int32) return an empty string ("").

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