How to convert a date string with optional fractional seconds using Codable in Swift?

You can use two different date formatters (with and without fraction seconds) and create a custom DateDecodingStrategy. In case of failure when parsing the date returned by the API you can throw a DecodingError as suggested by @PauloMattos in comments:

iOS 9, macOS 10.9, tvOS 9, watchOS 2, Xcode 9 or later

The custom ISO8601 DateFormatter:

extension Formatter {
    static let iso8601withFractionalSeconds: DateFormatter = {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.calendar = Calendar(identifier: .iso8601)
        formatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
        formatter.timeZone = TimeZone(secondsFromGMT: 0)
        formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXXXX"
        return formatter
    }()
    static let iso8601: DateFormatter = {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.calendar = Calendar(identifier: .iso8601)
        formatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
        formatter.timeZone = TimeZone(secondsFromGMT: 0)
        formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssXXXXX"
        return formatter
    }()
}

---

The custom DateDecodingStrategy:

extension JSONDecoder.DateDecodingStrategy {
    static let customISO8601 = custom {
        let container = try $0.singleValueContainer()
        let string = try container.decode(String.self)
        if let date = Formatter.iso8601withFractionalSeconds.date(from: string) ?? Formatter.iso8601.date(from: string) {
            return date
        }
        throw DecodingError.dataCorruptedError(in: container, debugDescription: "Invalid date: \(string)")
    }
}

---

The custom DateEncodingStrategy:

extension JSONEncoder.DateEncodingStrategy {
    static let customISO8601 = custom {
        var container = $1.singleValueContainer()
        try container.encode(Formatter.iso8601withFractionalSeconds.string(from: $0))
    }
}

---

edit/update:

Xcode 10 • Swift 4.2 or later • iOS 11.2.1 or later

ISO8601DateFormatter now supports formatOptions .withFractionalSeconds:

extension Formatter {
    static let iso8601withFractionalSeconds: ISO8601DateFormatter = {
        let formatter = ISO8601DateFormatter()
        formatter.formatOptions = [.withInternetDateTime, .withFractionalSeconds]
        return formatter
    }()
    static let iso8601: ISO8601DateFormatter = {
        let formatter = ISO8601DateFormatter()
        formatter.formatOptions = [.withInternetDateTime]
        return formatter
    }()
}

---

The customs DateDecodingStrategy and DateEncodingStrategy would be the same as shown above.

---

// Playground testing
struct ISODates: Codable {
    let dateWith9FS: Date
    let dateWith3FS: Date
    let dateWith2FS: Date
    let dateWithoutFS: Date
}

---

let isoDatesJSON = """
{
"dateWith9FS": "2017-06-19T18:43:19.532123456Z",
"dateWith3FS": "2017-06-19T18:43:19.532Z",
"dateWith2FS": "2017-06-19T18:43:19.53Z",
"dateWithoutFS": "2017-06-19T18:43:19Z",
}
"""

---

let isoDatesData = Data(isoDatesJSON.utf8)

let decoder = JSONDecoder()
decoder.dateDecodingStrategy = .customISO8601

do {
    let isoDates = try decoder.decode(ISODates.self, from: isoDatesData)
    print(Formatter.iso8601withFractionalSeconds.string(from: isoDates.dateWith9FS))   // 2017-06-19T18:43:19.532Z
    print(Formatter.iso8601withFractionalSeconds.string(from: isoDates.dateWith3FS))   // 2017-06-19T18:43:19.532Z
    print(Formatter.iso8601withFractionalSeconds.string(from: isoDates.dateWith2FS))   // 2017-06-19T18:43:19.530Z
    print(Formatter.iso8601withFractionalSeconds.string(from: isoDates.dateWithoutFS)) // 2017-06-19T18:43:19.000Z
} catch {
    print(error)
}