How can I convert an Integer to localized month name in Java?

Question

I get an integer and I need to convert to a month names in various locales:

Example for locale en-us:
1 -> January
2 -> February

Example for locale e

Answer 1

import java.text.DateFormatSymbols;
public String getMonth(int month) {
    return new DateFormatSymbols().getMonths()[month-1];
}

Answer 2

Using SimpleDateFormat.

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

public String formatMonth(String month) {
    SimpleDateFormat monthParse = new SimpleDateFormat("MM");
    SimpleDateFormat monthDisplay = new SimpleDateFormat("MMMM");
    return monthDisplay.format(monthParse.parse(month));
}


formatMonth("2"); 

Result: February

Answer 3

Apparently in Android 2.2 there is a bug with SimpleDateFormat.

In order to use month names you have to define them yourself in your resources:

<string-array name="month_names">
    <item>January</item>
    <item>February</item>
    <item>March</item>
    <item>April</item>
    <item>May</item>
    <item>June</item>
    <item>July</item>
    <item>August</item>
    <item>September</item>
    <item>October</item>
    <item>November</item>
    <item>December</item>
</string-array>

And then use them in your code like this:

/**
 * Get the month name of a Date. e.g. January for the Date 2011-01-01
 * 
 * @param date
 * @return e.g. "January"
 */
public static String getMonthName(Context context, Date date) {

    /*
     * Android 2.2 has a bug in SimpleDateFormat. Can't use "MMMM" for
     * getting the Month name for the given Locale. Thus relying on own
     * values from string resources
     */

    String result = "";

    Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
    cal.setTime(date);
    int month = cal.get(Calendar.MONTH);

    try {
        result = context.getResources().getStringArray(R.array.month_names)[month];
    } catch (ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
        result = Integer.toString(month);
    }

    return result;
}

Answer 4

tl;dr

Month.of( yourMonthNumber )           // Represent a month by its number, 1-12 for January-December. 
  .getDisplayName(                    // Generate text of the name of the month automatically localized. 
      TextStyle.SHORT_STANDALONE ,    // Specify how long or abbreviated the name of month should be.
      new Locale( "es" , "MX" )       // Locale determines (a) the human language used in translation, and (b) the cultural norms used in deciding issues of abbreviation, capitalization, punctuation, and so on.
  )                                   // Returns a String.

java.time.Month

Much easier to do now in the java.time classes that supplant these troublesome old legacy date-time classes.

The Month enum defines a dozen objects, one for each month.

The months are numbered 1-12 for January-December.

Month month = Month.of( 2 );  // 2 → February.

Ask the object to generate a String of the name of the month, automatically localized.

Adjust the TextStyle to specify how long or abbreviated you want the name. Note that in some languages (not English) the month name varies if used alone or as part of a complete date. So each text style has a …_STANDALONE variant.

Specify a Locale to determine:

• Which human language should be used in translation.
• What cultural norms should decide issues such as abbreviation, punctuation, and capitalization.

Example:

Locale l = new Locale( "es" , "MX" );
String output = Month.FEBRUARY.getDisplayName( TextStyle.SHORT_STANDALONE , l );  // Or Locale.US, Locale.CANADA_FRENCH. 

---

Name → Month object

FYI, going the other direction (parsing a name-of-month string to get a Month enum object) is not built-in. You could write your own class to do so. Here is my quick attempt at such a class. Use at your own risk. I gave this code no serious thought nor any serious testing.

Usage.

Month m = MonthDelocalizer.of( Locale.CANADA_FRENCH ).parse( "janvier" ) ;  // Month.JANUARY

Code.

package com.basilbourque.example;

import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;

import java.time.Month;
import java.time.format.TextStyle;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Locale;

// For a given name of month in some language, determine the matching `java.time.Month` enum object.
// This class is the opposite of `Month.getDisplayName` which generates a localized string for a given `Month` object.
// Usage… MonthDelocalizer.of( Locale.CANADA_FRENCH ).parse( "janvier" ) → Month.JANUARY
// Assumes `FormatStyle.FULL`, for names without abbreviation.
// About `java.time.Month` enum: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/9/docs/api/java/time/Month.html
// USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Provided without guarantee or warranty. No serious testing or code review was performed.
public class MonthDelocalizer
{
    @NotNull
    private Locale locale;

    @NotNull
    private List < String > monthNames, monthNamesStandalone; // Some languages use an alternate spelling for a “standalone” month name used without the context of a date.

    // Constructor. Private, for static factory method.
    private MonthDelocalizer ( @NotNull Locale locale )
    {
        this.locale = locale;

        // Populate the pair of arrays, each having the translated month names.
        int countMonthsInYear = 12; // Twelve months in the year.
        this.monthNames = new ArrayList <>( countMonthsInYear );
        this.monthNamesStandalone = new ArrayList <>( countMonthsInYear );

        for ( int i = 1 ; i <= countMonthsInYear ; i++ )
        {
            this.monthNames.add( Month.of( i ).getDisplayName( TextStyle.FULL , this.locale ) );
            this.monthNamesStandalone.add( Month.of( i ).getDisplayName( TextStyle.FULL_STANDALONE , this.locale ) );
        }
//        System.out.println( this.monthNames );
//        System.out.println( this.monthNamesStandalone );
    }

    // Constructor. Private, for static factory method.
    // Personally, I think it unwise to default implicitly to a `Locale`. But I included this in case you disagree with me, and to follow the lead of the *java.time* classes. --Basil Bourque
    private MonthDelocalizer ( )
    {
        this( Locale.getDefault() );
    }

    // static factory method, instead of  constructors.
    // See article by Dr. Joshua Bloch. http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1216151
    // The `Locale` argument determines the human language and cultural norms used in de-localizing input strings.
    synchronized static public MonthDelocalizer of ( @NotNull Locale localeArg )
    {
        MonthDelocalizer x = new MonthDelocalizer( localeArg ); // This class could be optimized by caching this object.
        return x;
    }

    // Attempt to translate the name of a month to look-up a matching `Month` enum object.
    // Returns NULL if the passed String value is not found to be a valid name of month for the human language and cultural norms of the `Locale` specified when constructing this parent object, `MonthDelocalizer`.
    @Nullable
    public Month parse ( @NotNull String input )
    {
        int index = this.monthNames.indexOf( input );
        if ( - 1 == index )
        { // If no hit in the contextual names, try the standalone names.
            index = this.monthNamesStandalone.indexOf( input );
        }
        int ordinal = ( index + 1 );
        Month m = ( ordinal > 0 ) ? Month.of( ordinal ) : null;  // If we have a hit, determine the `Month` enum object. Else return null.
        if ( null == m )
        {
            throw new java.lang.IllegalArgumentException( "The passed month name: ‘" + input + "’ is not valid for locale: " + this.locale.toString() );
        }
        return m;
    }

    // `Object` class overrides.

    @Override
    public boolean equals ( Object o )
    {
        if ( this == o ) return true;
        if ( o == null || getClass() != o.getClass() ) return false;

        MonthDelocalizer that = ( MonthDelocalizer ) o;

        return locale.equals( that.locale );
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode ( )
    {
        return locale.hashCode();
    }

    public static void main ( String[] args )
    {
        // Usage example:
        MonthDelocalizer monthDelocJapan = MonthDelocalizer.of( Locale.JAPAN );
        try
        {
            Month m = monthDelocJapan.parse( "pink elephant" ); // Invalid input.
        } catch ( IllegalArgumentException e )
        {
            // … handle error
            System.out.println( "ERROR: " + e.getLocalizedMessage() );
        }

        // Ignore exception. (not recommended)
        if ( MonthDelocalizer.of( Locale.CANADA_FRENCH ).parse( "janvier" ).equals( Month.JANUARY ) )
        {
            System.out.println( "GOOD - In locale "+Locale.CANADA_FRENCH+", the input ‘janvier’ parses to Month.JANUARY." );
        }
    }
}

---

About java.time

The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.

The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.

To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.

You may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. Use a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later. No need for strings, no need for java.sql.* classes.

Where to obtain the java.time classes?

• Java SE 8, Java SE 9, and later
  • Built-in.
  • Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
  • Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
• Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
  • Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
• Android
  • Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
  • For earlier Android (<26), the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….

The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.

Answer 5

Kotlin Extension

fun Int.toMonthName(): String {
    return DateFormatSymbols().months[this]
}

Usage

calendar.get(Calendar.MONTH).toMonthName()

Answer 6

You need to use LLLL for stand-alone month names. this is documented in the SimpleDateFormat documentation, such as:

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat( "LLLL", Locale.getDefault() );
dateFormat.format( date );