Printing Date via NSLog with format

0
votes

Is it possible to print an NSDate object via NSLog without also printing the hour, minute, seconds? What I want it to log is this format yyyy-MM-dd, without the hour, minute, seconds.

I already have an NSDateFormatter with yyyy-MM-dd but when I print the NSDate object via NSLog, it still gives me the hour, minute, second.

Is there a way to do this without creating another string from the date object then logging that string?

2
objective-cnsdatensdateformatternslog
You can use an NSDateFormatter to produce any format you want. The point is, you must format the date into a string, not simply wave the formatter around an NSDate and expect to change the NSDate. - Hot Licks
Thanks for the comment. I have already formatted my NSDate via NSDateFormatter with the yyyy-MM-dd format. But when I NSLog the NSDate object, it still gives me the hours, minutes, seconds - aresz
NSDateFormatter doesn't modify an existing NSDate object, nor does it produce a new one. It just offers you the ability to produce an NSString of a desired format, from an NSDate. So yes, you'll have to format it every time you want to print it to the console, or retain the NSString if the date is not changing. - Craig Otis

2 Answers

1
votes

When NSLog encounters an objective-c object (via the %@ token), it calls the method -[NSObject description] and prints the resulting string in its place. NSDate's implementation of that method prints out hours, minutes, and seconds. The only way to have it print something differently is to generate a string yourself using NSDateFormatter.

1
votes

You can subclass nsdate and override the description method to return a formatted string. Or write a category to do the same and just call the category method in your log statements.