DateTime.Now Property
[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]
Gets a DateTime object that is set to the current date and time on this computer, expressed as the local time.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
The resolution of this property depends on the system timer.
System | Approximate resolution |
|---|---|
Windows NT 3.5 and later | 10 milliseconds |
Windows 98 | 55 milliseconds |
The return value is a DateTime whose Kind property returns DateTimeKind.Local.
Note: |
|---|
You can also use the Now property to retrieve the current local date and time. It allows a local time to be expressed unambiguously as a single point in time, which in turn makes that time value portable across computers. |
Version Notes
Windows Phone
System.DateTime.Now.Millisecond.ToString always returns zero on the Windows Phone Emulator.The following example uses the SpecifyKind method to demonstrate how the Kind property influences the ToLocalTime and ToUniversalTime conversion methods.
' This code example demonstrates the DateTime Kind, Now, and ' UtcNow properties, and the SpecifyKind(), ToLocalTime(), ' and ToUniversalTime() methods. Class Example Public Shared Sub Demo(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock) ' Get the date and time for the current moment, adjusted ' to the local time zone. Dim saveNow As DateTime = DateTime.Now ' Get the date and time for the current moment expressed ' as coordinated universal time (UTC). Dim saveUtcNow As DateTime = DateTime.UtcNow Dim myDt As DateTime ' Display the value and Kind property of the current moment ' expressed as UTC and local time. DisplayNow(outputBlock, "UtcNow: ..........", saveUtcNow) DisplayNow(outputBlock, "Now: .............", saveNow) outputBlock.Text &= vbCrLf ' Change the Kind property of the current moment to ' DateTimeKind.Utc and display the result. myDt = DateTime.SpecifyKind(saveNow, DateTimeKind.Utc) Display(outputBlock, "Utc: .............", myDt) ' Change the Kind property of the current moment to ' DateTimeKind.Local and display the result. myDt = DateTime.SpecifyKind(saveNow, DateTimeKind.Local) Display(outputBlock, "Local: ...........", myDt) ' Change the Kind property of the current moment to ' DateTimeKind.Unspecified and display the result. myDt = DateTime.SpecifyKind(saveNow, DateTimeKind.Unspecified) Display(outputBlock, "Unspecified: .....", myDt) End Sub 'Main ' Display the value and Kind property of a DateTime structure, the ' DateTime structure converted to local time, and the DateTime ' structure converted to universal time. Public Shared datePatt As String = "M/d/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt" Public Shared Sub Display(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock, ByVal title As String, ByVal inputDt As DateTime) Dim dispDt As DateTime = inputDt Dim dtString As String ' Display the original DateTime. dtString = dispDt.ToString(datePatt) outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0} {1}, Kind = {2}", title, dtString, dispDt.Kind) & vbCrLf ' Convert inputDt to local time and display the result. ' If inputDt.Kind is DateTimeKind.Utc, the conversion is performed. ' If inputDt.Kind is DateTimeKind.Local, the conversion is not performed. ' If inputDt.Kind is DateTimeKind.Unspecified, the conversion is ' performed as if inputDt was universal time. dispDt = inputDt.ToLocalTime() dtString = dispDt.ToString(datePatt) outputBlock.Text += String.Format(" ToLocalTime: {0}, Kind = {1}", dtString, dispDt.Kind) & vbCrLf ' Convert inputDt to universal time and display the result. ' If inputDt.Kind is DateTimeKind.Utc, the conversion is not performed. ' If inputDt.Kind is DateTimeKind.Local, the conversion is performed. ' If inputDt.Kind is DateTimeKind.Unspecified, the conversion is ' performed as if inputDt was local time. dispDt = inputDt.ToUniversalTime() dtString = dispDt.ToString(datePatt) outputBlock.Text += String.Format(" ToUniversalTime: {0}, Kind = {1}", dtString, dispDt.Kind) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= vbCrLf End Sub 'Display ' Display the value and Kind property for DateTime.Now and DateTime.UtcNow. Public Shared Sub DisplayNow(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock, ByVal title As String, ByVal inputDt As DateTime) Dim dtString As String = inputDt.ToString(datePatt) outputBlock.Text += String.Format("{0} {1}, Kind = {2}", title, dtString, inputDt.Kind) & vbCrLf End Sub 'DisplayNow End Class 'Sample ' 'This code example produces the following results: ' 'UtcNow: .......... 5/6/2005 09:34:42 PM, Kind = Utc 'Now: ............. 5/6/2005 02:34:42 PM, Kind = Local ' 'Utc: ............. 5/6/2005 02:34:42 PM, Kind = Utc ' ToLocalTime: 5/6/2005 07:34:42 AM, Kind = Local ' ToUniversalTime: 5/6/2005 02:34:42 PM, Kind = Utc ' 'Local: ........... 5/6/2005 02:34:42 PM, Kind = Local ' ToLocalTime: 5/6/2005 02:34:42 PM, Kind = Local ' ToUniversalTime: 5/6/2005 09:34:42 PM, Kind = Utc ' 'Unspecified: ..... 5/6/2005 02:34:42 PM, Kind = Unspecified ' ToLocalTime: 5/6/2005 07:34:42 AM, Kind = Local ' ToUniversalTime: 5/6/2005 09:34:42 PM, Kind = Utc '
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