ParseException when parsing 3 character abbreviated month using SimpleDateFormat

Question

Here is my code,

SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat(\"dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss\");
Date dft  = (Date) format.parse(\"16-MAY-2018 09:30:22:000\");


        

Answer 1

Date dft  = (Date) format.parse("16-05-2018 09:30:22");

OR change it to

SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss");

Answer 2

The pattern should be MMM because there are three characters in the month.

You should also prefer java.time classes to the ones you're currently using if you're on Java 8 or above:

DateTimeFormatter formatter = new DateTimeFormatterBuilder()
    .appendPattern("dd-MMM-yyyy")
    .appendLiteral(' ')
    .append(ISO_LOCAL_TIME)
    .toFormatter();

LocalDateTime timestamp = LocalDateTime.parse("16-May-2018 09:30:22", formatter);

Answer 3

you are using dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss, so parsable is

16-05-2018 09:30:22

and if you want 16-MAY-2018 09:30:22 then use

dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss

Answer 4

Use this pattern: dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss

Answer 5

"16-MAY-2018 09:30:22" is not parsable with that time format. If you want to parse that you have to change date format to "dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss". The double M is only for numbered months (so should be 05 for May).

Check the SimpleDateFormat javadoc for more details: here