iOS: How to get a proper Month name from a number? - ios

Question

I know that the NSDateformatter suite of functionality is a boon for mankind, but at the same time it is very confusing to me. I hope you can help me out.
Somewhere in my code, there is an int representing a month. So: 1 would be January, 2 February, etc.
In my user interface, I would like to display this integer as proper month name. Moreover, it should adhere to the locale of the device.
Thank you for your insights
In the mean time, I have done the following:
int monthNumber = 11
NSString * dateString = [NSString stringWithFormat: #"%d", monthNumber];
NSDateFormatter* dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"MM"];
NSDate* myDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:dateString];
[dateFormatter release];
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"MMMM"];
NSString *stringFromDate = [formatter stringFromDate:myDate];
[formatter release];
is this the way to do it? It seems a bit wordy.

Answer 1

Another option is to use the monthSymbols method:
int monthNumber = 11; //November
NSDateFormatter *df = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init] autorelease];
NSString *monthName = [[df monthSymbols] objectAtIndex:(monthNumber-1)];
Note that you'll need to subtract 1 from your 1..12 monthNumber since monthSymbols is zero-based.

Answer 2

let monthName = DateFormatter().monthSymbols[monthNumber - 1]

Answer 3

You can change the dateFormat of the NSDateFormatter. So to simplify your code:
int monthNumber = 11
NSString * dateString = [NSString stringWithFormat: #"%d", monthNumber];
NSDateFormatter* dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"MM"];
NSDate* myDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:dateString];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"MMMM"];
NSString *stringFromDate = [formatter stringFromDate:myDate];
[dateFormatter release];
You should also set the locale once you init the date formatter.
dateFormatter.locale = [NSLocale currentLocale]; // Or any other locale
Hope this helps

Answer 4

Best solution for this is , standaloneMonthSymbols method,
-(NSString*)MonthNameString:(int)monthNumber
{
NSDateFormatter *formate = [NSDateFormatter new];
NSArray *monthNames = [formate standaloneMonthSymbols];
NSString *monthName = [monthNames objectAtIndex:(monthNumber - 1)];
return monthName;
}

Answer 5

How about:
NSUInteger i = <your month integer>;
NSDateFormatter *df = [NSDateFormatter new];
// change locale if the standard is not what you want
NSArray *monthNames = [df standaloneMonthSymbols];
NSString *monthName = [monthNames objectAtIndex:(i - 1)];
[df release];

Answer 6

Both answers from Anna Karenina and Carl doesn't work that well as they won't return month name in nominativ for some cultures. I suggest to use the proposed solution from Pascal, which solves this issue (by replacing monthSymbols with standaloneMonthSymbols)

Answer 7

In Swift 3.0
let monthNumber = 3
let fmt = DateFormatter()
fmt.dateFormat = "MM"
let month = fmt.monthSymbols[monthNumber - 1]
print(month)
// result
"March\n"

Answer 8

Swift 4.X
print((DateFormatter().monthSymbols[month-1].capitalized)) //month is int less than 12
For Example:
print((DateFormatter().monthSymbols[11-1].capitalized))
Output
November

Answer 9

NSDate to NSString -> As Dateformat Ex: 2015/06/24
NSDateFormatter *dateformate=[[NSDateFormatter alloc]init];
[dateformate setDateFormat: #"yyyy/MM/dd"];
NSString *date = [dateformate stringFromDate:selectedDate]; // Convert date to string
NSDate to NSString -> As Dateformat Ex: 2015 June 24, 1:02 PM
[dateformate setDateFormat:#"yyyy MMMM dd, h:mm a"];
NSString *displayDate = [dateformate stringFromDate:selectedDate]; // Convert date to string
NSLog(#"date :%#",date);
NSLog(#"Display time = %#", displayDate);

Answer 10

And with ARC :
+ (NSString *)monthNameFromDate:(NSDate *)date {
if (!date) return #"n/a";
NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[df setDateFormat:#"MM"];
return [[df monthSymbols] objectAtIndex:([[df stringFromDate:date] integerValue] - 1)];
}

Answer 11

You should be able to get rid of the release and re-allocation of the dateFormatter, cutting out a couple of lines, but that's all I see.