 <p>There are no direct way to get this. However there is a work around like this which will work in most of the cases. All you have to do is to add all the possible date formatter to the below <code>dateFormatterList</code>. </p> <pre><code>- (NSString *)dateStringFromString:(NSString *)sourceString destinationFormat:(NSString *)destinationFormat { NSString *convertedDateString = nil; NSArray *dateFormatterList = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'", @"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ", @"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss", @"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'", @"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ", @"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss", @"MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss", @"MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'", @"MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ", @"MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS", @"MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ssZ", @"MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss", @"yyyy:MM:dd HH:mm:ss", @"yyyyMMdd", @"dd-MM-yyyy", @"dd/MM/yyyy", @"yyyy-MM-dd", @"yyyy/MM/dd", @"dd MMMM yyyy", @"MMddyyyy", @"MM/dd/yyyy", @"MM-dd-yyyy", @"d'st' MMMM yyyy", @"d'nd' MMMM yyyy", @"d'rd' MMMM yyyy", @"d'th' MMMM yyyy", @"d'st' MMM yyyy", @"d'nd' MMM yyyy", @"d'rd' MMM yyyy", @"d'th' MMM yyyy", @"d'st' MMMM", @"d'nd' MMMM", @"d'rd' MMMM", @"d'th' MMMM", @"d'st' MMM", @"d'nd' MMM", @"d'rd' MMM", @"d'th' MMM", @"MMMM, yyyy", @"MMMM yyyy", nil]; //sourceString = @"20/11/2012"; //destinationFormat = @"dd MMMM yyyy"; if (sourceString) { NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init]; for (NSString *dateFormatterString in dateFormatterList) { [dateFormatter setDateFormat:dateFormatterString]; NSDate *originalDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:sourceString]; if (originalDate) { [dateFormatter setDateFormat:destinationFormat]; convertedDateString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:originalDate]; NSLog(@"Converted date String is %@", convertedDateString); break; } } [dateFormatter release]; } return convertedDateString; } </code></pre> <p>Add this to your class and use it as,</p> <pre><code>NSLog(@"%@", [self dateStringFromString:@"2nd August 2012" destinationFormat:@"dd-MM-yyyy"]); </code></pre> <p>Output: <code>02-08-2012</code></p>