display Java.util.Date in a specific format

Question

I have the following scenario :

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(\"dd/MM/yyyy\");
System.out.println(dateFormat.parse(\"31/05/2011\"));


        

Answer 1

java.time

Here’s the modern answer.

    DateTimeFormatter sourceFormatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd/MM/uuuu");
    DateTimeFormatter displayFormatter = DateTimeFormatter
            .ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.SHORT)
            .withLocale(Locale.forLanguageTag("zh-SG"));

    String dateString = "31/05/2011";
    LocalDate date = LocalDate.parse(dateString, sourceFormatter);
    System.out.println(date.format(displayFormatter));

Output from this snippet is:

31/05/11

See if you can live with the 2-digit year. Or use FormatStyle.MEDIUM to obtain 2011年5月31日. I recommend you use Java’s built-in date and time formats when you can. It’s easier and lends itself very well to internationalization.

If you need the exact format you gave, just use the source formatter as display formatter too:

    System.out.println(date.format(sourceFormatter));

31/05/2011

I recommend you don’t use SimpleDateFormat. It’s notoriously troublesome and long outdated. Instead I use java.time, the modern Java date and time API.

To obtain a specific format you need to format the parsed date back into a string. Netiher an old-fashioned Date nor a modern LocalDatecan have a format in it.

Link: Oracle tutorial: Date Time explaining how to use java.time.

Answer 2

How about:

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
System.out.println(dateFormat.format(dateFormat.parse("31/05/2011")));

> 31/05/2011

Answer 3

You can use simple date format in Java using the code below

SimpleDateFormat simpledatafo = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
Date newDate = new Date();
String expectedDate= simpledatafo.format(newDate);

Answer 4

You already has this (that's what you entered) parse will parse a date into a giving format and print the full date object (toString).

Answer 5

I had something like this, my suggestion would be to use java for things like this, don't put in boilerplate code

Answer 6

Use the SimpleDateFormat.format

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
Date date = new Date();
String sDate= sdf.format(date);