Parse some string date to another format

Question

I have problem formating date.

From : EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z (example : Mon, 05 Jan 2014 15:10:00 +0200)

To : dd/MMM/yyyy HH:mm (example : 05/01/2014 15:10)

Here is what i tried :

private String formatDate(String date) {
    SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MMM/yyyy HH:mm");
    Date dateResult = null;
    try {
        dateResult = format.parse(date);
    }
    catch (java.text.ParseException e) {
        Log.e(TAG, "", e);
    }
    return dateResult.toString();
}

I get exception : unparseable date at offset 0

some help would be nice here thanks ;)

See [this](http://developer.android.com/reference/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html) you can get some idea about all date formats. — Yugesh, Feb 07 '14 at 09:46
I already got to see this, official doc is important so.. but it does not helps. My issue is not doc related but more about logic. But thanks — An-droid, Feb 07 '14 at 09:50
@Yume117 You are parsing your *input* using the format you said you want for your *output*. Did you make a mistake in providing your sample code here, or is that cause of your problem? — Basil Bourque, Feb 07 '14 at 10:28
Yes i've understood that far, i'm trying the posts below without good result for now — An-droid, Feb 07 '14 at 10:29

Roman Black · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-07T10:23:16.090

You need two times converting. For example:

private String formatDate(String date) {
    SimpleDateFormat formatFrom = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z ");

    java.util.Date tmpDate = formatFrom.parse(date);
    SimpleDateFormat formatTo = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MMM/yyyy HH:mm");
    return formatTo.format(tmpDate);
}

For my own RSS parser I use the following code to parse different date formats:

    if (value.contains("+")) {
        value = value.substring(0, value.lastIndexOf("+") - 1);
    }

    String[] patterns = {//"EEE, dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss UTC",
            "yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z",
            "EEE, MMM d, ''yy",
            "yyyyy.MMMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa",
            "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z",
            "yyMMddHHmmssZ",
            "d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z",
            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss",
            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'",
            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'",
            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ",
            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ",
            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssz",
            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSz",
            "EEE, d MMM yy HH:mm:ssz",
            "EEE, d MMM yy HH:mm:ss",
            "EEE, d MMM yy HH:mm z",
            "EEE, d MMM yy HH:mm Z",
            "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z",
            "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z",
            "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss ZZZZ",
            "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm z",
            "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm Z",
            "d MMM yy HH:mm z",
            "d MMM yy HH:mm:ss z",
            "d MMM yyyy HH:mm z",
            "d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z"};

    for (int i = 0; i < patterns.length; i++) {
        SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(patterns[i], Locale.ENGLISH);
        try {
            pubdate = sdf.parse(value);

            break;
        } catch (Exception e) {
        }
    }

Just tried it's the same. Seriously dates are a pain to deal with :( — An-droid, Feb 07 '14 at 10:05
Just tried it's the same. Maybe the dateformat is wrong but i can't figure it out — An-droid, Feb 07 '14 at 10:16
Where you get your date? You know what date in what format you are recieving? I Will update my post, maybe it will help you. — Roman Black, Feb 07 '14 at 10:19
i get it from xml stream. Yes i the format is always the same i logged it. For example : "Fri, 12 Oct 2012 06:57:39 +0200" — An-droid, Feb 07 '14 at 10:22
@RomanBlack Unable to parse `Sunday, 18th February` with `EEEE, dd'th' MMMM` not working what may be the issue? — Sagar, Oct 24 '18 at 13:13

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 07 '14 at 09:43

Try this

SimpleDateFormat form = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z");
SimpleDateFormat postFormater = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MMM/yyyy HH:mm");

String inputdate = "Mon, 05 Jan 2014 15:10:00 +0200";

Date date = null;

    try {
        date = form.parse(inputdate);

    } catch (ParseException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();

    }

String resultdate = postFormater.format(date);

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 07 '14 at 09:46

Try code below:

String parseStringDate(String sqlDate) {
    String strDate = "";
    java.util.Date utilDate;

    SimpleDateFormat sqlDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z");
    try {
        Calendar calTempDate = Calendar.getInstance();
        utilDate = sqlDateFormat.parse(sqlDate);

        calTempDate.setTime(utilDate);
        strDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MMM/yyyy HH:mm").format(calTempDate.getTime());
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    return strDate;
}

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 07 '21 at 11:10

Incorrect sample data

Your example data of Mon, 05 Jan 2014 15:10:00 +0200 is incorrect. That date was a Sunday, not a Monday.

java.time

The modern way is with the java.time classes.

Your input has a format that conforms with RFC 1123. The java.time classes include a formatter for that specific format.

String input = "Sun, 05 Jan 2014 15:10:00 +0200";
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.RFC_1123_DATE_TIME ;
OffsetDateTime odt = OffsetDateTime.parse( input , f );

odt.toString(): 2014-01-05T15:10+02:00

See live code in IdeOne.com.

As for generating a string in other formats, that is already covered many times in Stack Overflow. Search for DateTimeFormatter class.

About java.time

The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.

The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.

To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.

With a JDBC driver complying with JDBC 4.2 or later, you may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. No need for strings or java.sql.* classes.

Where to obtain the java.time classes?

Java SE 8, Java SE 9, and later
Built-in.
Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
For earlier Android, the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….

Unable to parse Sunday, 18th February with EEEE, dd'th' MMMM not working ? — Sagar, Oct 24 '18 at 13:09
@SagarHudge Post your own Question with specifics and with a [MCVE](https://stackoverflow.com/help/mcve). — Basil Bourque, Oct 24 '18 at 15:41
@SagarHudge (a) Specify a `Locale`. (b) You **need a year** with that input. You cannot determine a day-of-week without a year. Otherwise, for a month and day without any year and without any time-of-day or time zone, use `YearMonth` class. `LocalDate.parse( "Sunday, 18th February 2018" , DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "EEEE, dd'th' MMMM uuuu" , Locale.US ) )` — Basil Bourque, Oct 24 '18 at 18:14

Parse some string date to another format

4 Answers4

Incorrect sample data

java.time

About java.time

Linked