How To Create Date Format In Java

Different programming languages have different ways of dealing with dates. Java uses Date Format to do the same. In this article we would be understanding Date Format in Java in detail.

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Following are the pointers, this article focuses on,

• Creating A Date Format
• Creating A Simple Date Format
• Date To String
• String To Date

So let us get started with this article,

Date Format In Java

The DateFormat class in Java is used for formatting dates. A specified date can be formatted into the Data/Time string. For example, a date can be formatted into: mm/dd/yyyy. Date Format classes are not synchronized.

So let us move ahead and see how tom create a Date Format

Creating A Date Format

public final String format(Date date)

This method returns Date or Time in a string format.

Example:

import java.text.*;
import java.util.Calendar;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
//Initializing the date formatter
DateFormat Date = DateFormat.getDateInstance();
//Initializing Calender Object
Calendar cals = Calendar.getInstance();
//Displaying the actual date
System.out.println("The original Date: " + cals.getTime());
//Using format() method for conversion
String currentDate = Date.format(cals.getTime());
System.out.println("Formatted Date: " + currentDate);
}
}

Output:

The original Date: Mon Jul 08 08:21:53 UTC 2019

Formatted Date: Jul 8, 2019

In the next bit of this article on Date Format In Java, we will see how to create a simple date format,

Creating A Simple Date Format

A SimpleDateFormat is a concrete class for formatting and parsing dates in a locale-sensitive manner.

String pattern = "yyyy-MM-dd";
SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);

The specified parameter “pattern” is the pattern used for formatting and parsing dates.

In the next bit of this article, we will see how to create a simple date format with date to string approach,

Date To String

Date can be formatted in java using the SimpleDateFormat as well:

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Date date = new Date();
SimpleDateFormat DateFor = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
String stringDate= DateFor.format(date);
System.out.println(stringDate);
}
}

Output:

08/07/2019

In the next bit of this article on Date Format In Java, we will see how to create a simple date format with string to date approach,

String To Date

We use the method of parsing to convert a string to date.

import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SimpleDateFormat DateFor = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
try{
Date date = DateFor.parse("08/07/2019");
System.out.println("Date : "+date);
}catch (ParseException e) {e.printStackTrace();}
}
}

Output:

Date : Mon Jul 08 00:00:00 UTC 2019

Example:

Let’s look at the complete example with multiple formats:

import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Locale;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Date date = new Date();
SimpleDateFormat DateFor = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
String stringDate = DateFor.format(date);
System.out.println("Date Format with MM/dd/yyyy : "+stringDate);
DateFor = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-M-yyyy hh:mm:ss");
stringDate = DateFor.format(date);
System.out.println("Date Format with dd-M-yyyy hh:mm:ss : "+stringDate);
DateFor = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMMM yyyy");
stringDate = DateFor.format(date);
System.out.println("Date Format with dd MMMM yyyy : "+stringDate);
DateFor = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMMM yyyy zzzz");
stringDate = DateFor.format(date);
System.out.println("Date Format with dd MMMM yyyy zzzz : "+stringDate);
DateFor = new SimpleDateFormat("E, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z");
stringDate = DateFor.format(date);
System.out.println("Date Format with E, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z :"+stringDate);
}
}

Output:

Date Format with MM/dd/yyyy : 07/08/2019

Date Format with dd-M-yyyy hh:mm:ss : 08-7-2019 08:51:58

Date Format with dd MMMM yyyy : 08 July 2019

Date Format with dd MMMM yyyy zzzz : 08 July 2019 Coordinated Universal Time

Date Format with E, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z : Mon, 08 Jul 2019 08:51:

58 UTC

Using Format

DateFormat class has a format method which is responsible for formatting.

Example

Locale locale = new Locale(“fr”, “FR”);

DateFormat dateFormat = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.DEFAULT, locale);

String date = dateFormat.format(new Date());

System.out.print(date);

This code will format the date in the French (fr) language and the France (FR) region:

Output:

3 janv. 2018

Using get time Instance()

For creating a DateFormat instance we are using getDateInstance() method.

For performing a time format, we need an instance of time. We will be using getTimeInstance() method for getting an instance of time.

Example

Locale locale = new Locale(“fr”, “FR”);

DateFormat dateFormat = DateFormat.getTimeInstance(DateFormat.DEFAULT, locale);

String date = dateFormat.format(new Date());

System.out.print(date);

This code will format the time in the French (fr) language and the France (FR) region:

Output

11:03:01

Patterns

Let us have a look at the pattern syntax that should be used for the formatting pattern.

Some letters should be used in different amount for different results like for month:

Examples

Let us now look at some examples for different formats of date and time.

Using parse()

Parsing is the conversion of String into a java.util.Date instance. We can parse a string to a date instance using parse() method of the SimpleDateFormat class. For parsing a String to Date we need an instance of the SimpleDateFormat class and a string pattern as input for the constructor of the class.

Example

String pattern = “MM-dd-yyyy”;

SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);

Date date = simpleDateFormat.parse(“12-01-2018”);

System.out.println(date);

This will output a date (12-01-2018) without a specified time:

Output

Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 IST 2018

Now let’s look at SimpleDateFormat example to parse time.

Example 

String pattern = “HH:mm:ss”;

SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);

Date date = simpleDateFormat.parse(“22:00:03”);

System.out.println(date);

This will output a time (22:00:03) without a specified date:

Output

Thu Jan 01 22:00:03 IST 1970

Because we have not specified any date the program considered epoch as the date (i.e., 01-Jan-1970).

Using Locale

We have worked with Locale as part of the DateFormat and we have seen that locales are used based on regions.

Example

String pattern = “EEEEE MMMMM yyyy HH:mm:ss.SSSZ”;

SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, new Locale(“fr”, “FR”));

Date date = simpleDateFormat.format(new Date());

System.out.println(date);

This code will format the current time in the French (fr) language and the France (FR) region:

Output

mardi janvier 2018 14:51:02.354+0530

The day and month are named in French based on the Locale provided as input – mardi is “Tuesday” and janvier is “January”.

These methods are used to format and parse dates in the programming language of java.

Thus we have come to an end of this article on ‘Date Format in Java’. If you wish to learn more, check out the Java Online Course by Edureka, a trusted online learning company. Edureka’s Java J2EE and SOA training and certification course is designed to train you for both core and advanced Java concepts along with various Java frameworks like Hibernate & Spring.

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