How To Convert String Date To Date In Swift

To convert a string date to a date object in Swift, you should use DateFormatter().

Convert ISO8601 To Date In Swift

import Foundation
let isoDate = "2020-01-22T11:22:00+0000"
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ"
if let date = dateFormatter.date(from: isoDate) {
  // do something with date...
}

Convert Month Day Year String To Date In Swift

Say you have a string in the format of “January 20, 2020”

Here’s how you would convert that date.

import Foundation
let dateString = "January 20, 2020"
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MMMM d, yyyy"
if let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString) {
  // do something with date...
}

To convert a date where they use the short form of months such as “Jan 20, 2020” you can replace the MMMM with just MMM:

import Foundation
let dateString = "Jan 20, 2020"
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MMM d, yyyy"
if let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString) {
  // do something with date...
}

Convert Day Of Week String To Date In Swift

If you have a day of week in the string such as a “Monday” or “Friday” here’s how you do it:

import Foundation
let dateString = "Monday, Jan 20, 2020"
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "EEEE, MMM d, yyyy"
if let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString) {
  // do something with date...
}

If the string has a short-form of the day such as “Mon” you can use EEE instead:

import Foundation
let dateString = "Mon, Jan 20, 2020"
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "EEE, MMM d, yyyy"
if let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString) {
  // do something with date...
}

Convert Number Date String To Date In Swift

US Numbered Date Format

Typically in the US, the format is MM/DD/YYYY.

To convert this format to a date object use the following code:

import Foundation
let dateString = "01/20/2020"
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "MM/dd/yyyy"
if let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString) {
  // do something with date...
    print(date)
}

International Numbered Date Format

A typical format used internationally is DD-MM-YYYY.

To convert this string to a date object use this code:

import Foundation
let dateString = "20-01-2020"
let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
if let date = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString) {
  // do something with date...
    print(date)
}

Convert Epoch or Unix Date To Date In Swift

To convert a unix or epoch date to a date object in Swift use this code:

let date = Date(timeIntervalSince1970: timeResult)

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Eddy Chung

I teach iOS development on ZeroToAppStore.com.