Get Date from String

Question

Lets say I have one of following strings:

\"Hello, I\'m a String... This is a Stackoverflowquestion!! Here is a Date: 16.03.2013, 02:35 and yeah, plain text          


        

Answer 1

This will extract, parse and print all dates in the input text:

var regex = new Regex(@"\b\d{2}\.\d{2}.\d{4}\b");
foreach(Match m in regex.Matches(inputText))
{
    DateTime dt;
    if (DateTime.TryParseExact(m.Value, "dd.MM.yyyy", null, DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
        Console.WriteLine(dt.ToString());
}

Now, if you just want the first date, you can do that:

static DateTime? GetFirstDateFromString(string inputText)
{
    var regex = new Regex(@"\b\d{2}\.\d{2}.\d{4}\b");
    foreach(Match m in regex.Matches(inputText))
    {
        DateTime dt;
        if (DateTime.TryParseExact(m.Value, "dd.MM.yyyy", null, DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
            return dt;
    }
    return null;
}

Note that the method returns a nullable DateTime, so that it can return null when the string contains no date.