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

# formatted(_:)

Generates a locale-aware string representation of a date using the specified date format style.

## Declaration

```swift
func formatted<F>(_ format: F) -> F.FormatOutput where F : FormatStyle, F.FormatInput == Date
```

## Parameters

- `format`: The date format style to apply to the date.

## Return Value

Return Value A string, formatted according to the specified style.

## Discussion

Discussion For full customization of the string representation of a date, use the formatted(_:) instance method of Date and provide a Date.FormatStyle object. You can achieve any customization of date and time representation your app requires by appying a series of convenience modifiers to your format style. This example applies a series of modifiers to the format style to precisely define the formatting of the year, month, day, hour, minute, and timezone components of the resulting string. // Call the .formatted method on an instance of Date passing in an instance of Date.FormatStyle.

let birthday = Date()

birthday.formatted(     Date.FormatStyle()         .year(.defaultDigits)         .month(.abbreviated)         .day(.twoDigits)         .hour(.defaultDigits(amPM: .abbreviated))         .minute(.twoDigits)         .timeZone(.identifier(.long))         .era(.wide)         .dayOfYear(.defaultDigits)         .weekday(.abbreviated)         .week(.defaultDigits) )  // Sun, Jan 17, 2021 Anno Domini (week: 4), 11:18 AM America/Chicago For the default date formatting, use the formatted() method. For basic customization of the formatted date string, use the formatted(date:time:) and include a date and time style. For more information about formatting dates, see Date.FormatStyle.

## See Also

### Formatting a Date

- [formatted()](foundation/date/formatted().md)
- [formatted(date:time:)](foundation/date/formatted(date:time:).md)
- [Date.FormatStyle](foundation/date/formatstyle.md)
- [Date.RelativeFormatStyle](foundation/date/relativeformatstyle.md)
- [Date.IntervalFormatStyle](foundation/date/intervalformatstyle.md)
- [ISO8601Format(_:)](foundation/date/iso8601format(_:).md)
- [Date.ISO8601FormatStyle](foundation/date/iso8601formatstyle.md)