Get names of days of the week spelled out in .NET with C# / VB

In "Get the current date", the DateTime construct gave us information about current date and time: here's how you obtain the full day name, spelled out in the operating system's language: DayOfWeek dow = DateTime.Now.DayOfWeek; // Not a string! MessageBox.Show( dow.ToString() ); // Tuesday
Caveat: counter-intuitively, the returned value is not a string until you convert with ToString().
...Or use the DateTime construct with one of two format providers to control the output: MessageBox.Show( DateTime.Now.ToString("dddd") ); // Tuesday // Get the three-letter abbreviation for the day: MessageBox.Show( DateTime.Now.ToString("ddd") ); // Tue
Tip: just convert with 'ToUpper()' to get the uppercase version of the abbreviation (e.g., "TUE").
To get a zero-based array of day names in the user's locale, access this system collection: System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.DayNames[0]; // Sunday
To get the day number (like a non-zero based indexed collection), where 1 is Monday and 7 is Sunday (not zero-based), type-cast the DayOfWeek to an integer: int dayIndex = (int)DateTime.Today.DayOfWeek; // 1-7 integer returned // The code below returns '2 for Tuesday' MessageBox.Show( dayIndex.ToString() +" for "+ DateTime.Now.DayOfWeek );
Caveat - confusion: DateTime.Now.Day returns the day's date (1-31), not the day's number with respect to the week! (FYI: use DateTime.Now.DayOfYear to get a day count since Jan 1st!)

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