How can I validate a date in different formats

asp.net, c#, regex

Solution

Use `DateTime.TryParseExact` - there is an overload that takes an array of format strings, so you can supply all of the possible formats.

From MSDN - DateTime.TryParseExact Method (String, String[], IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles, DateTime):

string[] formats= {"M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt", "M/d/yyyy h:mm tt", 
                   "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss", "M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss", 
                   "M/d/yyyy hh:mm tt", "M/d/yyyy hh tt", 
                   "M/d/yyyy h:mm", "M/d/yyyy h:mm", 
                   "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm", "M/dd/yyyy hh:mm"};
string[] dateStrings = {"5/1/2009 6:32 PM", "05/01/2009 6:32:05 PM", 
                        "5/1/2009 6:32:00", "05/01/2009 06:32", 
                        "05/01/2009 06:32:00 PM", "05/01/2009 06:32:00"}; 
DateTime dateValue;

foreach (string dateString in dateStrings)
{
   if (DateTime.TryParseExact(dateString, formats, 
                              new CultureInfo("en-US"), 
                              DateTimeStyles.None, 
                              out dateValue))
      Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1}.", dateString, dateValue);
   else
      Console.WriteLine("Unable to convert '{0}' to a date.", dateString);
}
// The example displays the following output:
//       Converted '5/1/2009 6:32 PM' to 5/1/2009 6:32:00 PM.
//       Converted '05/01/2009 6:32:05 PM' to 5/1/2009 6:32:05 PM.
//       Converted '5/1/2009 6:32:00' to 5/1/2009 6:32:00 AM.
//       Converted '05/01/2009 06:32' to 5/1/2009 6:32:00 AM.
//       Converted '05/01/2009 06:32:00 PM' to 5/1/2009 6:32:00 PM.
//       Converted '05/01/2009 06:32:00' to 5/1/2009 6:32:00 AM.

Problem

I got a regular expression to valid a date which is as follows `^(((0[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01])\/(0[13578]|1[02])\/((19|[2-9]\d)\d{2}))|((0[1-9]|[12]\d|30)\/(0[13456789]|1[012])\/((19|[2-9]\d)\d{2}))|((0[1-9]|1\d|2[0-8])\/02\/((19|[2-9]\d)\d{2}))|(29\/02\/((1[6-9]|[2-9]\d)(0[48]|[2468][048]|[13579][26])|((16|[2468][048]|[3579][26])00))))$` But this will valid if I enter date as follows `20/03/2012` .. With the same I would like to add different validation which can work together for the following `20032012 (ddmmyyyy)` `03202012(mmddyyyy)` Can some one help me

Original source