C# + Format TimeSpan

Question

I am trying to format a TimeSpan element in the format of \"[minutes]:[seconds]\". In this format, 2 minutes and 8 seconds would look like \"02:08\". I have tried a variety

Answer 1

Custom formatting of System.TimeSpan was added in .Net 4, so you can now do the following:

string.Format("{0:mm\\:ss}", myTimeSpan);

(UPDATE) and here is an example using C# 6 string interpolation:

$"{myTimeSpan:hh\\:mm\\:ss}"; //example output 15:36:15

In short you now need to escape the ":" character with a "\" (which itself must be escaped unless you're using a verbatim string).

This excerpt from the MSDN Custom TimeSpan Format Strings page explains about escaping the ":" and "." charecters in a format string:

The custom TimeSpan format specifiers do not include placeholder separator symbols, such as the symbols that separate days from hours, hours from minutes, or seconds from fractional seconds. Instead, these symbols must be included in the custom format string as string literals. For example, "dd.hh:mm" defines a period (.) as the separator between days and hours, and a colon (:) as the separator between hours and minutes.