How to parse/format dates with LocalDateTime? (Java 8)

Question

Java 8 added a new java.time API for working with dates and times (JSR 310).

I have date and time as string (e.g. \"2014-04-08 12:30\"). How can I obtai

Answer 1

Both answers above explain very well the question regarding string patterns. However, just in case you are working with ISO 8601 there is no need to apply DateTimeFormatter since LocalDateTime is already prepared for it:

Convert LocalDateTime to Time Zone ISO8601 String

LocalDateTime ldt = LocalDateTime.now(); 
ZonedDateTime zdt = ldt.atZone(ZoneOffset.UTC); //you might use a different zone
String iso8601 = zdt.toString();

Convert from ISO8601 String back to a LocalDateTime

String iso8601 = "2016-02-14T18:32:04.150Z";
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.parse(iso8601);
LocalDateTime ldt = zdt.toLocalDateTime();