如何……

NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy"];

//Optionally for time zone conversions
[formatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithName:@"..."]];

NSString *stringFromDate = [formatter stringFromDate:myNSDateInstance];

//unless ARC is active
[formatter release];

Swift 4.2:

func stringFromDate(_ date: Date) -> String {
    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.dateFormat = "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm" //yyyy
    return formatter.string(from: date)
}

希望通过提供包括年、月、日和时间的正常格式化程序来增加更多的价值。 您可以使用这个格式化程序超过一年

[dateFormat setDateFormat: @"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss zzz"]; 

如何……

NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy"];

//Optionally for time zone conversions
[formatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone timeZoneWithName:@"..."]];

NSString *stringFromDate = [formatter stringFromDate:myNSDateInstance];

//unless ARC is active
[formatter release];

Swift 4.2:

func stringFromDate(_ date: Date) -> String {
    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.dateFormat = "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm" //yyyy
    return formatter.string(from: date)
}

简单的方法，使用c#风格的方式将日期转换为字符串。

用法:

let a = time.asString()
// 1990-03-25


let b = time.asString("MM ∕ dd ∕ yyyy, hh꞉mm a")
// 03 / 25 / 1990, 10:33 PM

扩展:

extension Date {
    func asString(_ template: String? = nil) -> String {
        if let template = template {
            let df = DateFormatter.with(template: template)
            
            return df.string(from: self)
        }
        else {
            return globalDateFormatter.string(from: self)
        }
    }
}

// Here you can set default template for DateFormatter
public let globalDateFormatter: DateFormatter = DateFormatter.with(template: "y-M-d")

public extension DateFormatter {
    static func with(template: String ) -> DateFormatter {
        let df = DateFormatter()
        df.dateFormat = template
        return df
    }
}

如果你在Mac OS X上，你可以这样写:

NSString* s = [[NSDate date] descriptionWithCalendarFormat:@"%Y_%m_%d_%H_%M_%S" timeZone:nil locale:nil];

但是这在iOS上是不可用的。

网络上有很多NSDate的助手，我倾向于使用:

https://github.com/billymeltdown/nsdate-helper/

自述摘录如下:

  NSString *displayString = [NSDate stringForDisplayFromDate:date];

这将产生以下类型的输出:

‘3:42 AM’ – if the date is after midnight today
‘Tuesday’ – if the date is within the last seven days
‘Mar 1’ – if the date is within the current calendar year
‘Mar 1, 2008’ – else ;-)