How can I convert a string with fractional seconds into a datetime object?

I have a string containing date and time in the following format:

date_string = 

    "1991-03-11 08:45:15.3"

I am not able to figure out how to specify the format. I have tried 'yyyy-MM-dd  HH:mm:SS' and 'yyyy-MM-dd  HH:mm:SSS' and various other combinations, but I keep getting this error:

ERROR: Error using datetime (line 616)
Unable to parse '1991-03-11 08:45:15.3' as a date/time using the format 'yyyy-MM-dd  HH:mm:SS'.

How can I convert this string into a "datetime" object?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

As per documentation, "datetime" format notation uses "s" for whole seconds, and "S" for fractional seconds. So to convert your dates to "datetime" you can run the following command:

>> mydate = datetime(date_string, 'InputFormat', 'yyyy-MM-dd  HH:mm:ss.S')

mydate = 

  datetime

   11-Mar-1991 08:45:15

[Steven Lord]

To include the fractional seconds in the display of the mydate variable, change its Format property.

mydate.Format = 'yyyy-MM-dd  HH:mm:ss.S'

[Peter Perkins]

Or don't use the 'InputFormat parameter' when you create the datetime. Using 'Format' instead would be more appropriate here.