How to parse dates in multiple formats using SimpleDateFormat

Question

I am trying to parse some dates that are coming out of a document. It would appear users have entered these dates in a similar but not exact format.

here are the for

Answer 1

Here is the complete example (with main method) which can be added as a utility class in your project. All the format mentioned in SimpleDateFormate API is supported in the below method.

import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

import org.apache.commons.lang.time.DateUtils;

public class DateUtility {

    public static Date parseDate(String inputDate) {

        Date outputDate = null;
        String[] possibleDateFormats =
              {
                    "yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z",
                    "EEE, MMM d, ''yy",
                    "h:mm a",
                    "hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz",
                    "K:mm a, z",
                    "yyyyy.MMMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa",
                    "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z",
                    "yyMMddHHmmssZ",
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ",
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX",
                    "YYYY-'W'ww-u",
                    "EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z", 
                    "EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm zzzz",
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ",
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSzzzz", 
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:sszzzz",
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss z",
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssz", 
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss",
                    "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HHmmss.SSSz",
                    "yyyy-MM-dd",
                    "yyyyMMdd",
                    "dd/MM/yy",
                    "dd/MM/yyyy"
              };

        try {

            outputDate = DateUtils.parseDate(inputDate, possibleDateFormats);
            System.out.println("inputDate ==> " + inputDate + ", outputDate ==> " + outputDate);

        } catch (ParseException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        return outputDate;

    }

    public static String formatDate(Date date, String requiredDateFormat) {
        SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat(requiredDateFormat);
        String outputDateFormatted = df.format(date);
        return outputDateFormatted;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        DateUtility.parseDate("20181118");
        DateUtility.parseDate("2018-11-18");
        DateUtility.parseDate("18/11/18");
        DateUtility.parseDate("18/11/2018");
        DateUtility.parseDate("2018.11.18 AD at 12:08:56 PDT");
        System.out.println("");
        DateUtility.parseDate("Wed, Nov 18, '18");
        DateUtility.parseDate("12:08 PM");
        DateUtility.parseDate("12 o'clock PM, Pacific Daylight Time");
        DateUtility.parseDate("0:08 PM, PDT");
        DateUtility.parseDate("02018.Nov.18 AD 12:08 PM");
        System.out.println("");
        DateUtility.parseDate("Wed, 18 Nov 2018 12:08:56 -0700");
        DateUtility.parseDate("181118120856-0700");
        DateUtility.parseDate("2018-11-18T12:08:56.235-0700");
        DateUtility.parseDate("2018-11-18T12:08:56.235-07:00");
        DateUtility.parseDate("2018-W27-3");
    }

}