Parse hour:minute value with "g" specifier current culture.
using System; using System.Globalization; public class Example { public static void Main() { string intervalString, format; TimeSpan interval; CultureInfo culture; intervalString = "17:14"; format = "g"; culture = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture; try { interval = TimeSpan.ParseExact(intervalString, format, culture); Console.WriteLine("'{0}' --> {1}", intervalString, interval); } catch (FormatException) { Console.WriteLine("'{0}': Bad Format for '{1}'", intervalString, format); } catch (OverflowException) { Console.WriteLine("'{0}': Overflow", intervalString); } } }