Get AM/PM for a date time in lowercase using only a datetime format

Question

I\'m to get a custom DateTime format including the AM/PM designator, but I want the \"AM\" or \"PM\" to be lowercase without making the rest of of the characters lo

Answer 1

The problem with the above approaches is that the main reason you use a format string is to enable localization, and the approaches given so far would break for any country or culture that does not wish to include a final am or pm. So what I've done is written out an extension method that understands an additional format sequence 'TT' which signifies a lowercase am/pm. The below code is debugged for my cases, but may not yet be perfect:

    /// 

    /// Converts the value of the current System.DateTime object to its equivalent string representation using the specified format.  The format has extensions over C#s ordinary format string
    /// 
    /// this DateTime object
    /// A DateTime format string, with special new abilities, such as TT being a lowercase version of 'tt'
    /// A string representation of value of the current System.DateTime object as specified by format.
    public static string ToStringEx(this DateTime dt, string formatex)
    {
        string ret;
        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(formatex))
        {
            ret = "";
            string[] formatParts = formatex.Split(new[] { "TT" }, StringSplitOptions.None);
            for (int i = 0; i < formatParts.Length; i++)
            {
                if (i > 0)
                {
                    //since 'TT' is being used as the seperator sequence, insert lowercase AM or PM as appropriate
                    ret += dt.ToString("tt").ToLower();
                }
                string formatPart = formatParts[i];
                if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(formatPart))
                {
                    ret += dt.ToString(formatPart);
                }
            }
        }
        else
        {
            ret = dt.ToString(formatex);
        }
        return ret;
    }