How to Convert string "07:35" (HH:MM) to TimeSpan

C#Timespan

C# Problem Overview


I would like to know if there is a way to convert a 24 Hour time formatted string to a TimeSpan.

Right now I have a "old fashion style":

string stringTime = "07:35";
string[] values = stringTime.Split(':');

TimeSpan ts = new TimeSpan(values[0], values[1], 0);

C# Solutions


Solution 1 - C#

While correct that this will work:

TimeSpan time = TimeSpan.Parse("07:35");

And if you are using it for validation...

TimeSpan time;
if (!TimeSpan.TryParse("07:35", out time))
{
    // handle validation error
}

Consider that TimeSpan is primarily intended to work with elapsed time, rather than time-of-day. It will accept values larger than 24 hours, and will accept negative values also.

If you need to validate that the input string is a valid time-of-day (>= 00:00 and < 24:00), then you should consider this instead:

DateTime dt;
if (!DateTime.TryParseExact("07:35", "HH:mm", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, 
                                              DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
    // handle validation error
}
TimeSpan time = dt.TimeOfDay;

As an added benefit, this will also parse 12-hour formatted times when an AM or PM is included, as long as you provide the appropriate format string, such as "h:mm tt".

Solution 2 - C#

Try

var ts = TimeSpan.Parse(stringTime);

With a newer .NET you also have

TimeSpan ts;

if(!TimeSpan.TryParse(stringTime, out ts)){
     // throw exception or whatnot
}
// ts now has a valid format

This is the general idiom for parsing strings in .NET with the first version handling erroneous string by throwing FormatException and the latter letting the Boolean TryParse give you the information directly.

Solution 3 - C#

Solution 4 - C#

You can convert the time using the following code.

TimeSpan _time = TimeSpan.Parse("07:35");

But if you want to get the current time of the day you can use the following code:

TimeSpan _CurrentTime = DateTime.Now.TimeOfDay;

The result will be:

03:54:35.7763461

With a object cantain the Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Ticks and etc.

Attributions

All content for this solution is sourced from the original question on Stackoverflow.

The content on this page is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestionVAAAView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - C#Matt Johnson-PintView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - C#faesterView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - C#adjanView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - C#Muhammad AwaisView Answer on Stackoverflow