迅速:

var formatter = NSDateFormatter()
formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy"
var dateString = formatter.stringFromDate(YourNSDateInstanceHERE)

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)
}

+(NSString*)date2str:(NSDate*)myNSDateInstance onlyDate:(BOOL)onlyDate{
    NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    if (onlyDate) {
        [formatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd"];
    }else{
        [formatter setDateFormat: @"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];
    }

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

    NSString *stringFromDate = [formatter stringFromDate:myNSDateInstance];
    return stringFromDate;
}

+(NSDate*)str2date:(NSString*)dateStr{
    if ([dateStr isKindOfClass:[NSDate class]]) {
        return (NSDate*)dateStr;
    }

    NSDateFormatter *dateFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dateFormat setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd"];
    NSDate *date = [dateFormat dateFromString:dateStr];
    return date;
}

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())

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 ;-)

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
    }
}