---
title: "format(_:)"
framework: foundation
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Method
path: "foundation/date/formatstyle/format(_:)"
---

# format(_:)

Creates a locale-aware string representation from a date value.

## Declaration

```swift
func format(_ value: Date) -> String
```

## Parameters

- `value`: The date to format.

## Return Value

Return Value A string representation of the date.

## Discussion

Discussion The format(_:) instance method generates a string from the provided date. Once you create a style, you can use it to format dates multiple times. The following example creates a format style to guide parsing a set of string representations of dates. It also creates a second format style, applying it repeatedly to produce more detailed string representations of those dates for a different locale. let inputFormat = Date.FormatStyle()     .locale(Locale(identifier: "en_GB"))     .year()     .month()     .day()

// Parse dates from strings using the input format defined above. let iphoneIntroductionDate = try! Date("9 Jan 2007", strategy: inputFormat) let ipadIntroductionDate = try! Date("27 Jan 2010", strategy: inputFormat) let wwdc2021Date = try! Date("7 Jun 2021", strategy: inputFormat)

// Define a format style with the desired date fields. let outputFormat = Date.FormatStyle()     .locale(Locale(identifier: "en_US"))     .year()     .month(.wide)     .day(.twoDigits)     .weekday(.abbreviated)

// Apply the output format on the three dates below. print(outputFormat.format(wwdc2021Date)) // Mon, June 07, 2021

print(outputFormat.format(ipadIntroductionDate)) // Wed, January 27, 2010

print(outputFormat.format(iphoneIntroductionDate)) // Tue, January 09, 2007