c# - Deserialize a single DateTime object with JsonConvert

Question

Context

The line JsonConvert.SerializeObject(DateTime.Now) gives the following result:

"2018-05-25T07:59:27.2175427+02:00"

However when I try to deserialize this JSON string to a DateTime with the line: JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<DateTime>("2018-05-25T07:59:27.2175427+02:00")

it gives an Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException with the following message:

Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: 2. Path '', line 1, position 1.

What else I've tried so far

"2018-05-25T07:59:27"

causes the very same exception

Question

Having the datetime string in JSON serialized format, I would like to have a DateTime variable and the correct value in it. How can I accomplish this task?

Answer 1

As shown in the JSON standard, a JSON string literal must be quoted:

A string is a sequence of zero or more Unicode characters, wrapped in double quotes, using backslash escapes. A character is represented as a single character string. A string is very much like a C or Java string.

Thus, to be valid JSON, your c# string literal must include the surrounding double quotes, like so:

var dateTime = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<DateTime>(""2018-05-25T07:59:27.2175427+02:00"");

It's easy to confuse the outermost quotes, which are part of the c# language and delimit the string in your c# code but are not included in the string itself, with the inner quotes, which are part of the string literal itself.

Sample fiddle here.