c# - How do I convert time time into minutes from a string?

Question

heres my code -

string TimeOut = File.ReadLines(myfile);
var TimeNow = DateTime.Now;
    
var diffInSeconds = (TimeNow - (DateTime.ParseExact(TimeOut, "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture))).TotalSeconds;
                               
MessageBox.Show("Complete In " + diffInSeconds.ToString("#.##") + " Seconds");

My TimeOut string is "08/01/2021 16:12:24"

I keep getting error code

System.FormatException: 'String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.'

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Your format string "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss" should be "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss" to match "08/01/2021 16:12:24". The "yyyy" matches the years, which come first in your example, followed by the months "MM".