convert String to Util date in "dd-MMM-yyyy" fromat

Question

I am working in Eclipse . I have string date = "12-DEC-2016"

now i want to convert it into util date in same format. Please help me with this query.

Have a look at [https://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html](SimpleDateFormat) — Nikhil Chilwant, Jan 31 '16 at 10:12
Like every other answer involing a `String` to `Date` conversion, you start with `SimpleDateFormat` — MadProgrammer, Jan 31 '16 at 11:04

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 31 '16 at 10:32

Conversion

To convert a String into a java.util.Date of a specific format, you can use a java.text.DateFormat. DateFormat objects can perform conversions in both directions, from String to Date by calling format() and from Date to String by calling parse(). DateFormat objects can be obtained in multiple ways, here are some:

Obtain an instance via one of the static get*Instance() methods in DateFormat. This is especially useful when you want the format to be in the user's locale. For example, DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT).
Create your very own specific format by creating an instance of SimpleDateFormat. For example, new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yyyy")

You should consider whether you need a particular fixed format or whether you need the format of whatever the user's locale uses. Keep in mind that different countries use different formats.

In case the format is not for a user, but for machine to machine data interchange, you should consider using ISO 8601 or RFC 1123 as a format.

Also consider using the java.time package instead of java.util.Date. The java.time package is more powerful in case you need to perform calculations. It usually leads to code which is easier to understand and more precise, especially regarding the handling of time zones, daylight savings, local time vs. UTC and such.

Notes:

That you're working in Eclipse doesn't matter to the problem.

References

ISO 8601 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601
RFC 1123 https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1123.txt
DateFormat https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/text/DateFormat.html
SimpleDateFormat https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html
Java 8 java.time package https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/time/package-summary.html

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

java.time

The accepted Answer by Hujer is correct but focuses on the troublesome outmoded classes of java.data.Date/.Calendar & SimpleDateFormat. As suggested, you should be using the java.time framework built into Java 8 and later.

`LocalDate`

The new classes include LocalDate to represent a date-only value, without time-of-day or time zone.

Parsing requires a Locale when your string includes words to be translated, name of day or month. Better to specify explicitly than depend on JVM’s current default Locale.

String input = "12-DEC-2016";
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "d-MM-uuuu" );
f = f.withLocale( Locale.ENGLISH );
LocalDate ld = LocalDate.parse( input , f );