Click to see the result
Use the regex to parse the string for date. This regex can detect any kind of date format. The sample code here is not including time yet. You can change the code to add more parts of the date like time and time zone...The month name is depending on default language locale of the system.
import java.io.IOException;
import java.text.DateFormatSymbols;
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class DateUtils {
static String MONTH="";
static String dateRegEx="";
static Pattern DatePattern;
static HashMap<String, Integer> monthMap = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
static {
initializeMonthName();
dateRegEx="(?i)(\\d{1,4}|"+MONTH+")[-|/|.|\\s+]?(\\d{1,2}|"+MONTH+")[-|/|.|,]?[\\s+]?(\\d{1,4}|"+MONTH+")[\\s+|\\t|T]?(\\d{0,2}):?(\\d{0,2}):?(\\d{0,2})[.|,]?[\\s]?(\\d{0,3})?([+|-])?(\\d{0,2})[:]?(\\d{0,2})[\\s+]?([A|P]M)?";
DatePattern = Pattern.compile(dateRegEx);
}
private static void initializeMonthName() {
String[] monthName=getMonthString(true);
for(int i=0;i<12;i++){
monthMap.put(monthName[i].toLowerCase(), Integer.valueOf(i+1));
}
monthName=getMonthString(false);
for(int i=0;i<12;i++){
monthMap.put(monthName[i].toLowerCase(), Integer.valueOf(i+1));
}
Iterator<String> it = monthMap.keySet().iterator();
while(it.hasNext()){
String month=it.next();
if(MONTH.isEmpty()){
MONTH=month;
}else{
MONTH=MONTH + "|" + month;
}
}
}
public static boolean isInteger(Object object) {
if(object instanceof Integer) {
return true;
} else {
try{
Integer.parseInt(object.toString());
}catch(Exception e) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
public static String[] getMonthString(boolean isShort) {
DateFormatSymbols dfs = new DateFormatSymbols();
if (isShort) {
return dfs.getShortMonths();
} else {
return dfs.getMonths();
}
}
public static int getMonthMap(String value) {
if(monthMap.get(value)==null){
return 0;
}
return monthMap.get(value).intValue();
}
public static long parseDate(String value){
Matcher matcher = DatePattern.matcher(value);
int Year=0, Month=0, Day=0;
boolean isYearFound=false;
boolean isMonthFound=false;
boolean isDayFound=false;
if(matcher.find()) {
for(int i=1;i<matcher.groupCount();i++){
String data=matcher.group(i)==null?"":matcher.group(i);
if(data.equalsIgnoreCase("null")){
data="";
}
//System.out.println(String.valueOf(i) + ": " + data);
switch(i){
case 1:
if(!data.isEmpty()){
if(isInteger(data)){
Integer YMD = Integer.valueOf(data);
if(YMD==0){
return 0;
}
if(YMD>31){
Year = YMD.intValue();
isYearFound = true;
}else if(YMD>12){
Day = YMD.intValue();
isDayFound = true;
}else {
Month=YMD.intValue();
isMonthFound=true;
}
}else {
Month = getMonthMap(data.toLowerCase());
if(Month==0){
return 0;
}
isMonthFound=true;
}
}else {
return 0;
}
break;
case 2:
if(!data.isEmpty()){
if(isInteger(data)){
Integer YMD = Integer.valueOf(data);
if(YMD==0){
return 0;
}
if(YMD>31){
if(isYearFound) {
return 0;
}
Year = YMD.intValue();
isYearFound = true;
}else if(YMD>12){
if(isDayFound) {
return 0;
}
Day = YMD.intValue();
isDayFound = true;
}else {
if(isMonthFound){
Day=YMD.intValue();
isDayFound=true;
}else{
Month=YMD.intValue();
isMonthFound=true;
}
}
}else {
if(isMonthFound){
Day=Month;
isDayFound=true;
}
Month = getMonthMap(data.toLowerCase());
if(Month==0){
return 0;
}
isMonthFound=true;
}
}else {
return 0;
}
break;
case 3:
if(!data.isEmpty()){
if(isInteger(data)){
Integer YMD = Integer.valueOf(data);
if(YMD==0){
return 0;
}
if(YMD>31){
if(isYearFound) {
return 0;
}
Year = YMD.intValue();
isYearFound = true;
}else if(YMD>12){
if(isDayFound) {
return 0;
}
Day = YMD.intValue();
isDayFound = true;
}else {
if(isMonthFound){
Day=YMD.intValue();
isDayFound=true;
}else {
Month = YMD.intValue();
isMonthFound=true;
}
}
}else {
if(isMonthFound){
Day=Month;
isDayFound=true;
}
Month = getMonthMap(data.toLowerCase());
if(Month==0){
return 0;
}
isMonthFound=true;
}
}else {
return 0;
}
break;
case 4:
//hour
break;
case 5:
//minutes
break;
case 6:
//second
break;
case 7:
//millisecond
break;
case 8:
//time zone +/-
break;
case 9:
//time zone hour
break;
case 10:
// time zone minute
break;
case 11:
//AM/PM
break;
}
}
}
Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
c.set(Year, Month-1, Day, 0, 0);
return c.getTime().getTime();
}
public static void main(String[] argv) throws IOException {
long d= DateUtils.parseDate("16 July 2012");
Date dt = new Date(d);
SimpleDateFormat df2 = new SimpleDateFormat("d MMMM yyyy");
String dateText = df2.format(dt);
System.out.println(dateText);
d= DateUtils.parseDate("March 20 2012");
dt = new Date(d);
dateText = df2.format(dt);
System.out.println(dateText);
d= DateUtils.parseDate("2012 March 20");
dt = new Date(d);
dateText = df2.format(dt);
System.out.println(dateText);
}
}
