Convert java.util.Date to String

Question

I want to convert a java.util.Date object to a String in Java.

The format is 2010-05-30 22:15:52

Answer 1

Altenative one-liners in plain-old java:

String.format("The date: %tY-%tm-%td", date, date, date);

String.format("The date: %1$tY-%1$tm-%1$td", date);

String.format("Time with tz: %tY-%<tm-%<td %<tH:%<tM:%<tS.%<tL%<tz", date);

String.format("The date and time in ISO format: %tF %<tT", date);

This uses Formatter and relative indexing instead of SimpleDateFormat which is not thread-safe, btw.

Slightly more repetitive but needs just one statement. This may be handy in some cases.

Answer 2

public static String formateDate(String dateString) {
    Date date;
    String formattedDate = "";
    try {
        date = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss",Locale.getDefault()).parse(dateString);
        formattedDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy",Locale.getDefault()).format(date);
    } catch (ParseException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    return formattedDate;
}

Answer 3

The easiest way to use it is as following:

currentISODate = new Date().parse("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss", "2013-04-14T16:11:48.000");

where "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss" is the format of the reading date

output: Sun Apr 14 16:11:48 EEST 2013

Notes: HH vs hh - HH refers to 24h time format - hh refers to 12h time format

Answer 4

Here are examples of using new Java 8 Time API to format legacy java.util.Date:

    DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss:SSS Z")
        .withZone(ZoneOffset.UTC);
    String utcFormatted = formatter.format(date.toInstant()); 

    ZonedDateTime utcDatetime = date.toInstant().atZone(ZoneOffset.UTC);
    String utcFormatted2 = utcDatetime.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss:SSS Z"));
    // gives the same as above

    ZonedDateTime localDatetime = date.toInstant().atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault());
    String localFormatted = localDatetime.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_ZONED_DATE_TIME);
    // 2011-12-03T10:15:30+01:00[Europe/Paris]

    String nowFormatted = LocalDateTime.now().toString(); // 2007-12-03T10:15:30.123

It is nice about DateTimeFormatter that it can be efficiently cached as it is thread-safe (unlike SimpleDateFormat).

List of predefined fomatters and pattern notation reference.

Credits:

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

Java8 java.util.Date conversion to java.time.ZonedDateTime

Format Instant to String

What's the difference between java 8 ZonedDateTime and OffsetDateTime?

Answer 5

Let's try this

public static void main(String args[]) {

    Calendar cal = GregorianCalendar.getInstance();
    Date today = cal.getTime();
    DateFormat df7 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");

    try {           
        String str7 = df7.format(today);
        System.out.println("String in yyyy-MM-dd format is: " + str7);          
    } catch (Exception ex) {
      ex.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Or a utility function

public String convertDateToString(Date date, String format) {
    String dateStr = null;
    DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat(format);

    try {
        dateStr = df.format(date);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        ex.printStackTrace();
    }
    return dateStr;
}

From Convert Date to String in Java

Answer 6

Convert a Date to a String using DateFormat#format method:

String pattern = "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss";

// Create an instance of SimpleDateFormat used for formatting 
// the string representation of date according to the chosen pattern
DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);

// Get the today date using Calendar object.
Date today = Calendar.getInstance().getTime();        
// Using DateFormat format method we can create a string 
// representation of a date with the defined format.
String todayAsString = df.format(today);

// Print the result!
System.out.println("Today is: " + todayAsString);

From http://www.kodejava.org/examples/86.html