How to properly format dates in java

Question

How to properly format a "01/01/2014" format date into "dd MM yyyy", please ?

I've tried to surround this via this instruction:

String dateStr = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MM yyyy").parse("01/01/2014").toString();

But, an error message triggers on this line saying :

FATAL EXCEPTION: main java.lang.NullPointerException at com.mypharmacy.app.DrugAdd$3.onClick

How to deal with this?

Additionally, show us the `getString` method. There isn't enough context here... although it looks like you're calling `toString()` on `Date`, which isn't going to work. If you're trying to convert from one string to another, you need to parse with one `SimpleDateFormat` and then format with a different one. You can't do both with a single `SimpleDateFormat`, because you've got two formats... — Jon Skeet, Sep 14 '14 at 16:30
Show code, show log. Your code is throwing compilation error. — VenomVendor, Sep 14 '14 at 16:31
possible duplicate of [Convert string to date then format the date](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7882025/convert-string-to-date-then-format-the-date) — Basil Bourque, Sep 14 '14 at 19:09

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 14 '14 at 16:35

1

You've got to do the parsing in one step:

Date date = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy").parse("01/01/2014");

And then the formatting in a different step:

String formattedDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MM yyyy").format(date);

answered Sep 14 '14 at 16:35

Denise

1 Answers1