NSString to NSDate conversion..is there a better way? - nsstring

Question

I need to convert a NSString object of format "Tuesday 14th October" to NSDate, of format "Tuesday, 14 Oct". This is what I tried,
NSString *day = #"Tuesday 14th October";
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setTimeZone:[NSTimeZone systemTimeZone]];
[dateFormatter setLocale:[NSLocale currentLocale]];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"EEEE, dd MMM"];
NSArray *dateComponets = [day componentsSeparatedByString:#" "];
NSString *dayOfTheWeek = dateComponets[0];
NSString *date = [dateComponets[1] substringToIndex:2];
NSString *month = [dateComponets[2] substringToIndex:3];
NSString *newDay = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%#, %# %#", dayOfTheWeek,date, month];
NSDate *newDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:newDay];
NSLog(#"date : %#", [dateFormatter stringFromDate:newDate]);
It seems to work but I felt its a bit clunky..do you guys know more elegant/better/standard way to do this in iOS?

Answer 1

Store an NSDate in Core Data - So:
NSString *day = #"Tuesday 14th October";
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"EEEE dd MMM"];
myCoreDataObject.savedDate = [dateformatter dateFromString: day];
Then do the reverse when you want to display it:
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"EEEE, dd MMM"];
myLabel.text = [dateformatter stringFromDate: myCoreDataObject.savedDate];
Don't actually allocate a new data formatter each time, its really slow.
The locale will default to the system one, so you don't need to explicitly set it necessarily

Answer 2

There is no such thing as an "NSDate of firmat X"; you've fundamentally failed to understand NSDate. It's a timestamp. It identifies an objective instant in time. It has no format.
Just use NSDateFormatter for whatever it is you actually want to do. It can parse a string into a date and vice versa. Don't write your own hacky text parsing. Don't touch NSDateComponents at all.