Getting a Date from a String

[Will Carpenter]

This place is great!
Is there a method that I can pass the String "100404" or "10/04/04", (UK Style dates) and get back "Saturday, April 10, 2004" (US Style date)

[sever oon]

Use the java.text.DateFormat class...you'll probably want to use the SimpleDateFormat subclass:

String dateString = "03-25-2001";
DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat( "MM-dd-yyyy" ); // mm means minute, MM means month
Date date = dateFormat.parse( dateString );
Date now = new Date(); // current time
String nowString = dateFormat.format( now );

sev

[Dirk Schreckmann]

Note that you may find taking a look at the API documentation for the SimpleDateFormat (and perhaps the DateFormat) and the Date classes that sever oon mentioned to be useful - especially for details on the date patterns available.

[Will Carpenter]

Great sev and Dirk, that was very helpful!
Just one more thing:
The following code produces this output: Sat Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2004
Any idea how I could get rid of the "00:00:00 EDT"?

import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;
 
class TrivialApplication 
{  public static void main(String args[]) 
   {  
      String aDate = "04-10-04";
      try
      {
         Date bDate; 
         bDate = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yy").parse(aDate);
         System.out.println(bDate);
      }
      catch(ParseException pex)
      {  System.out.println(pex);
      }
   }
}

[ April 10, 2004: Message edited by: Dirk Schreckmann ]

[Maulin Vasavada]

Hi Will,
You need to use two SimpleDateFormat objects. One to parse the input to make sure the date is in the correct format and the second one to print the date in the format you want.
First format you already got working. Second format should be,
Date now = new Date();
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMMMMMMMM dd yyyy");
System.out.println(sdf.format(now));
Regards
Maulin

[Will Carpenter]

Awesome! thanks folks!
For those who had trouble following:
Here's the output: Sat Apr 10 2004
Given this code:
String eDate = "04 10 04";
try
{
Date fDate;
fDate = new SimpleDateFormat("MM dd yy").parse(eDate);
SimpleDateFormat sdf;
sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMMMMMMMM dd yyyy");
System.out.println(sdf.format(fDate));
}
catch(ParseException pex)
{ System.out.println(pex);
}