How do I format the current date for the user's locale?

Question

I have this code where I\'m trying to get the current date and format it in the current locale.

NSDate *now = [NSDate date];  //  gets current date
NSString *sNo         


        

Answer 1

In addition to jiayow answer you can specify your custom 'template' to get localized version:

+ (NSString *)formattedDate:(NSDate *)date usingTemplate:(NSString *)template {
    NSDateFormatter* formatter = [NSDateFormatter new];

    formatter.dateFormat = [NSDateFormatter dateFormatFromTemplate:template options:0 locale:formatter.locale];

    return [formatter stringFromDate:date];
}

Example usage for US/DE locale:

NSLocale *enLocale = [NSLocale localeWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en_US"];
NSLocale *deLocale = [NSLocale localeWithLocaleIdentifier:@"de"];

// en_US:   MMM dd, yyyy
formatter.dateFormat = [NSDateFormatter dateFormatFromTemplate:@"ddMMMyyyy" options:0 locale:enLocale];
// de:      dd. MMM yyyy
formatter.dateFormat = [NSDateFormatter dateFormatFromTemplate:@"ddMMMyyyy" options:0 locale:deLocale];

// en_US:   MM/dd/yyyy
formatter.dateFormat = [NSDateFormatter dateFormatFromTemplate:@"ddyyyyMM" options:0 locale:enLocale];
// de:      dd.MM.yyyy
formatter.dateFormat = [NSDateFormatter dateFormatFromTemplate:@"ddyyyyMM" options:0 locale:deLocale];

// en_US    MM/dd
formatter.dateFormat = [NSDateFormatter dateFormatFromTemplate:@"MMdd" options:0 locale:enLocale];
// de:      dd.MM.
formatter.dateFormat = [NSDateFormatter dateFormatFromTemplate:@"MMdd" options:0 locale:deLocale];