Convert Month Number to Name in PowerShell

Using the Get-Culture() Cmdlet

We can use the Get-Culture cmdlet in the following three possible ways:

1. To Convert the Hardcoded Month Number to the Name
2. To Convert the Month Number from a Date to the Name
3. To Convert the Current Month Number to the Name

Let’s learn the above-mentioned approaches one by one below.

Convert the Hardcoded Month Number to the Name

To convert the hardcoded month number to the name in PowerShell, use the GetMonthName() method of the DateTimeFormat property of the Get-Culture cmdlet.

The Get-Culture cmdlet in PowerShell retrieves the current culture settings on a computer or a user session.

The culture settings include information such as the language, the calendar, and the formatting conventions for dates, times, and numbers. This cmdlet can be helpful for troubleshooting or for setting up scripts that need to run in different cultural environments.

Its DateTimeFormat property provides many methods that return information about the date and time format of the current culture stored in an object. For example, the GetMonthName() method takes the month number in an integer and returns a string that represents the full name of that month.

Similarly, the GetAbbreviatedMonthName() method returns the abbreviated name of the month we provide as an argument:

Convert the Month Number from a Date to the Name

To convert the month number from a date to the name:

• Use the [datetime]::ParseExact() method to retrieve the month number from a date.
• Use the GetMonthName() method of the DateTimeFormat property of the Get-UICulture cmdlet to convert the month number to the name.

System.DateTime class in PowerShell represents a point in the date and time of the day. This class is part of the .NET Framework and provides various properties and methods for working with dates and times in PowerShell.

The static method ParseExact() of the System.DateTime class in PowerShell that converts a string representation of a date and time to an equivalent System.DateTime object. The method uses the specified format and culture-specific format information to interpret the string.

The method takes three parameters:

• The s is a string that accepts the specific date and time that needs conversion.
• The format string is a specifier that defines the required format of the string. Note that if the string is not in the correct format, the method will throw an exception
• The provider is the IFormatProvider object that supplies culture-specific formatting information about the string.

For example, to convert the date in a string into the System.DateTime object, we passed the parameters to this method:

• The string 01/02/2022 is the first parameter.
• The format dd/MM/yyyy is the second parameter. It specifies that the day is represented by two digits, the month by two digits, and the year by four digits, each separated by /.
• The $null is the third parameter.

Then, we used the .Month property of the datetime object that returned the month number. Then, to convert that month number to the name, we used the GetMonthName() method of the DateTimeFormat property of the Get-Culture cmdlet we discussed in the code section while converting the hardcoded month number to the name.

Convert the Current Month Number to the Name

To convert the current month number to the name in PowerShell, use the GetMonthName() method of the DateTimeFormat property of the Get-Culture cmdlet with the GetDate cmdlet.

The Get-Date cmdlet gets the current date and time. By default, it returns the current date and time in the local time zone, but it can also get the date and time in the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) format or in a specific time zone.

For example, we used this method’s .Month property to retrieve the month number. Then we converted it into the name using the Get-Culture.DateTimeFormat.GetMonthName() method.

Using the [cultureinfo]::InvariantCulture Property

To convert the month number to the name, replace the Get-Culture cmdlet in the above-discussed code sections with the [cultureinfo]::InvariantCulture property.

The System.Globalization.CultureInfo class in the .NET Framework provides information about a specific culture, including the names of the culture, the writing system, and the calendar used, as well as access to culture-specific objects that provide information, such as the sort order of strings.

The InvariantCulture property of the System.Globalization.CultureInfo class is a static property that returns an instance of the System.Globalization.CultureInfo class. This property is helpful when we need to perform culture-insensitive operations. For example, we used this property’s DateTimeFormat.GetMonthName() method to convert the month number to the name and print it on the console.

Similarly, to get the abbreviated name of the month:

Note that we can use this property to perform other operations as we did while using the GetCulture() cmdlet:

• Converting the month number from a date to the name.
• Converting the current month number to the name.

That’s all about how to convert month number to name in PowerShell.