Solution: String was not recognized as a valid DateTime when calling DateTime.ParseExact on results of GetDetailsOf call

Exception calling "ParseExact" with "3" argument(s): "String '‎1/‎1/‎2000 ‏‎12:12 AM' was not recognized as a valid DateTime."

```yaml

!["The error"](/2021/02/powershell-datetime-parseexact-getdetailsof-valid-datetime/056.png)

To the eye this looks like a valid date string, but there’s some sneaky hidden chars in there. See this:

Using: [https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html](https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html)

You can see that we have some Left to right and right to left unicode chars:

!["The hidden unicode chars"](/2021/02/powershell-datetime-parseexact-getdetailsof-valid-datetime/057.png)

So, all you have to do is remove those nasty buggers:

```powershell

$dateString = ($dir.GetDetailsOf( $file, 12 ) -replace "`u{200e}") -replace "`u{200f}"

```text

And use the format code “g”, like so:

```powershell

$date = [DateTime]::ParseExact($dateString, "g", $null)

```text

And it works.

The code:

```powershell

$dateString = ($dir.GetDetailsOf( $file, 12 ) -replace "`u{200e}") -replace "`u{200f}"

if ($dateString) {
    $date = [DateTime]::ParseExact($dateString, "g", $null)
}