Cannot format LocaDateTime given Object as a Date

Question

I want to format a LocalDateTime using the following code:

DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMddHHmmss");
return dateFormat.format(LocalDateTime.now().plusMinutes(10));

but I have the error:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Cannot format given Object as a Date

This could have been solved by examining the documentation that comes with Java. — NomadMaker, Apr 15 '20 at 19:24

Arvind Kumar Avinash · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-05T14:17:59.480

You can not format the java.time types using the legacy formatting type, java.text.DateFormat. Use java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter instead.

import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyyMMddHHmmss");
        System.out.println(formatter.format(LocalDateTime.now().plusMinutes(10)));
    }
}

Output:

20200415203347

Note that the java.time API, released with Java-8 in March 2014, supplanted the error-prone legacy date-time API. Since then, using this modern date-time API has been strongly recommended. Learn more about the modern Date-Time API from Trail: Date Time.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 15 '20 at 19:16

0

There are two different methods of dealing with dates in Java. DateFormat is for the old, not-to-be-used java.util.Date package. Your LocalDateTime is from the much better java.time package, and needs to use a DateTimeFormatter:

DateTimeFormatter format = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyyMMddHHmmss");
return format.format(LocalDateTime.now().plusMinutes(10));

answered Apr 15 '20 at 19:16

squaregoldfish

709
8
20

it is worth noting that calling the `ofPattern` method requires API level 26 and higher. – Amirhosein Nov 13 '21 at 07:09

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 15 '20 at 19:16

0

you would need to use DateTimeFormatter instead of DateFormatter as the object you are trying to format is LocalDateTime.

answered Apr 15 '20 at 19:16

broken98

43
6

Cannot format LocaDateTime given Object as a Date

3 Answers3