How to format a Date to a specific format on Swift4?

Question

I must format a object created by Date() to a especific format, this format must show the date like:

28 may, 2018 11:00:32

I've a func to make the formatation of Date(), but to the follow format:

yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss

Function working:

static func dateFormatTime(date : Date) -> String {
        let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
        dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"
        return dateFormatter.string(from: date)
    }

But I don't know how make on this format: dd MMM, yyyy HH:mm:ss

Answer 1

Simply, all you have to do is to change the dateFormatter.dateFormat value to the desired format, which is "dd MMM, yyyy hh:mm:ss" in your case:

func dateFormatTime(date : Date) -> String {
    let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
    dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd MMM, yyyy hh:mm:ss"
    return dateFormatter.string(from: date)
}

therefore:

let str = dateFormatTime(date: Date())
print(str) // 29 May, 2018 12:18:08

Time zone:

You could also set the desired time zone like this:

dateFormatter.timeZone = TimeZone(identifier: "UTC")

---

Update:

Thanks for @rmaddy for suggesting using date styles (dateStyle and timeStyle properties) instead of editing the date format.

When displaying a date to a user, you set the dateStyle and timeStyle properties of the date formatter according to your particular needs... Based on the values of the dateStyle and timeStyle properties, DateFormatter provides a representation of a specified date that is appropriate for a given locale.

_{DateFormatter - Working With User-Visible Representations of Dates and Times.}

Hence:

func dateFormatTime(date : Date) -> String {
    let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
    
    dateFormatter.dateStyle = .long
    dateFormatter.timeStyle = .medium
    
    dateFormatter.timeZone = TimeZone(identifier: "UTC")
 
    return dateFormatter.string(from: date)
}

let str = dateFormatTime(date: Date())
print(str) // May 29, 2018 at 12:45:08 AM