Common Format Strings
Year (full)
yearFormatter.dateFormat = @"y";
yearFormatter.dateFormat = "y"
Year (two digits, leading zero if less than ten)
yearFormatter.dateFormat = @"yy";
yearFormatter.dateFormat = "yy"
Quarter (abbreviated)
quarterFormatter.dateFormat = @"qqq";
quarterFormatter.dateFormat = "qqq"
Month (two digits, leading zero where applicable)
monthFormatter.dateFormat = @"MM";
monthFormatter.dateFormat = "MM"
Month (abbreviated)
monthFormatter.dateFormat = @"MMM";
monthFormatter.dateFormat = "MMM"
Month (full)
monthFormatter.dateFormat = @"MMMM";
monthFormatter.dateFormat = "MMMM"
Day of Month (no leading zero)
dateFormatter.dateFormat = @"d";
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "d"
Day of Week (abbreviated)
weekDayFormatter.dateFormat = @"EEE";
weekDayFormatter.dateFormat = "EEE"
Day of Week (full)
weekDayFormatter.dateFormat = @"EEEE";
weekDayFormatter.dateFormat = "EEEE"
Day of Week (short)
weekDayFormatter.dateFormat = @"EEEEEE";
weekDayFormatter.dateFormat = "EEEEEE"
Period (AM/PM)
periodFormatter.dateFormat = @"a";
periodFormatter.dateFormat = "a"
Hour (0-12, zero-padded)
hourFormatter.dateFormat = @"hh";
hourFormatter.dateFormat = "hh"
Hour (0-12, not zero-padded)
hourFormatter.dateFormat = @"h";
hourFormatter.dateFormat = "h"
Hour (0-23, zero-padded)
hourFormatter.dateFormat = @"HH";
hourFormatter.dateFormat = "HH"
Hour (0-23, not zero-padded)
hourFormatter.dateFormat = @"H";
hourFormatter.dateFormat = "H"
Minute (zero-padded)
minuteFormatter.dateFormat = @"mm";
minuteFormatter.dateFormat = "mm"
Second (zero-padded)
secondFormatter.dateFormat = @"ss";
secondFormatter.dateFormat = "ss"
Time Zones
Specific Non-Location Format (Short, ex. "PDT")
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = @"zzz";
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = "zzz"
Specific Non-Location Format (Long, ex. "Pacific Daylight Time")
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = @"zzzz";
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = "zzzz"
Localized GMT Format (Long, ex. "GMT-6:00")
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = @"ZZZZ";
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = "ZZZZ"
Generic Non-Location Format (Short, ex. "PT")
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = @"v";
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = "v"
Generic Non-Location Format (Long, ex. "Pacific Time")
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = @"vvvv";
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = "vvvv"
Exemplar City Name (ex. "Chicago")
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = @"VVV";
zoneFormatter.dateFormat = "VVV"
Other Goodies
en_US_POSIX Locale (prevents user settings from changing format string)
dateFormatter.locale = [[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en_US_POSIX"];
dateFormatter.locale = NSLocale(localeIdentifier: "en_US_POSIX")
ISO 8601 Date
dateFormatter.timeZone = [NSTimeZone timeZoneWithAbbreviation:@"UTC"];
dateFormatter.dateFormat = @"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'";
dateFormatter.timeZone = NSTimeZone(abbreviation: "UTC")
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'"
GMT Date
dateFormatter.dateFormat = @"eee, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz";
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "eee, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz"
Twitter API Date
dateFormatter.dateFormat = @"eee MMM dd HH:mm:ss ZZZZ yyyy";
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "eee MMM dd HH:mm:ss ZZZZ yyyy"
Not Listed?