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 ;-)

NSCalendar *calendar = [NSCalendar currentCalendar];
NSDateComponents *components = [calendar components:(NSCalendarUnitYear | NSCalendarUnitMonth | NSCalendarUnitDay) fromDate:myNSDateInstance];
NSInteger year = [components year];
// NSInteger month = [components month];
NSString *yearStr = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%ld", year];

如果你没有NSDate -descriptionWithCalendarFormat:timeZone:locale: available(我不相信iPhone/Cocoa Touch包括这个)，你可能需要使用strftime和一些c风格的字符串。您可以使用NSDate -timeIntervalSince1970从NSDate中获取UNIX时间戳。

iOS 15更新

iOS 15现在支持直接在Date对象上调用.格式化，而不需要显式的DateFormatter。

常见格式示例

文档

date.formatted() // 6/8/2021, 7:30 PM
date.formatted(date: .omitted, time: .complete) // 19:30
date.formatted(date: .omitted, time: .standard) // 07:30 PM
date.formatted(date: .omitted, time: .shortened) // 7:30 PM
date.formatted(date: .omitted, time: .omitted)

替代语法

文档

// We can also specify each DateComponent separately by chaining modifiers.
date.formatted(.dateTime.weekday(.wide).day().month().hour().minute())
// Tuesday, Jun 8, 7:30 pm

// Answer to specific question
date.formatted(.dateTime.year())

objective - c:

NSDate *date = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:0];
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [NSDateFormatter new];
formatter.dateFormat = @"yyyy";
NSString *dateString = [formatter stringFromDate:date];

迅速:

let now = Date()
let formatter = DateFormatter()
formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy"
let dateString = formatter.string(from: now) 

这是nsdateformatter的一个好网站。您可以在不同的本地使用不同的DateFormatter预览日期字符串。

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)
}