format(_:)

Declaration

func format(_ destDate: Date) -> String

Parameters

• destDate:

  The date to format.

Return Value

A string representation of the relative date.

Discussion

The format(_:) instance method generates a string from the provided relative date. Once you create a style, you can use it to format dates multiple times.

The following example applies a format style repeatedly to produce string representations of relative dates:

if let pastWeek = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .day, value: -7, to: Date()) {
    if let pastDay = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .day, value: -1, to: Date()) {

        let formatStyle = Date.RelativeFormatStyle(
            presentation: .named,
            unitsStyle: .spellOut,
            locale: Locale(identifier: "en_GB"),
            calendar: Calendar.current,
            capitalizationContext: .beginningOfSentence)
        
        formatStyle.format(pastDay) // "Yesterday"
        formatStyle.format(pastWeek) // "Last week"
    }
}