Format Date in Java Using SimpleDateFormat

If you want to create your own customized formats to format a date in Java, you can do that using the SimpleDateFormat class.

When you create a SimpleDateFormat object, you specify a pattern String. The contents of the pattern String determine the format of the date and time.

For example-

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");

Here the specified pattern is "MM/dd/yyyy" so the date will be formatted in that pattern.

Formatting date using SimpleDateFormat Java examples

In the example code several String patterns are used to create SimpleDateFormat object which are then used to format date. Comment along with the pattern shows how date is displayed using that pattern.

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class FormatDate {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  FormatDate fd = new FormatDate();
  
  // For date in format Wed, Jun 8, '16
  fd.getFormattedDate("EEE, MMM d, ''yy");

  // For date in format Wednesday, June 08, 2016
  fd.getFormattedDate("EEEE, MMMM dd, yyyy");

  // For date in format 05/08/2016
  fd.getFormattedDate("MM/dd/yyyy");

  // For date in format 08/05/2016
  fd.getFormattedDate("dd/MM/yyyy");

  // For date in format 2016-05-08 AD at 09:42:54 IST
  // with era designator (AD in this case) and 
  // timezone info (IST in this case)
  fd.getFormattedDate("yyyy-MM-dd G 'at' hh:mm:ss z");

  //For date in format 08/May/2016 AD 21:47:28:889 PM
  //with AM/PM marker, time in 24 Hr fmt, miliseconds
  // also included
  fd.getFormattedDate("dd/MMMMM/yyyy GGG HH:mm:ss:SSS a");

  // Only time like 21:52:14:096 PM
  // in 24 hr format, with mili seconds and AM/PM marker
  fd.getFormattedDate("HH:mm:ss:SSS a");

 }
 
 public void getFormattedDate(String pattern){
  Date today;
  String result;
  SimpleDateFormat formatter;
  // Creating the date format using the given pattern
  formatter = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);
  // Getting the date instance
  today = new Date();
  // formatting the date
  result = formatter.format(today);
  System.out.println("Pattern: " + pattern + 
    " Formatted Date - " + result);
 }

}

Output

Pattern: EEE, MMM d, ''yy Formatted Date - Sun, May 8, '16
Pattern: EEEE, MMMM dd, yyyy Formatted Date - Sunday, May 08, 2016
Pattern: MM/dd/yyyy Formatted Date - 05/08/2016
Pattern: dd/MM/yyyy Formatted Date - 08/05/2016
Pattern: yyyy-MM-dd G 'at' hh:mm:ss z Formatted Date - 2016-05-08 AD at 10:13:46 IST
Pattern: dd/MMMMM/yyyy GGG HH:mm:ss:SSS a Formatted Date - 08/May/2016 AD 22:13:46:090 PM
Pattern: HH:mm:ss:SSS a Formatted Date - 22:13:46:092 PM

Symbols used for creating date patterns in Java

Symbol	Meaning	Presentation	Example
G	era designator	Text	AD
y	year	Number	2009
M	month in year	Text & Number	July & 07
d	day in month	Number	10
h	hour in am/pm (1-12)	Number	12
H	hour in day (0-23)	Number	0
m	minute in hour	Number	30
s	second in minute	Number	55
S	millisecond	Number	978
E	day in week	Text	Tuesday
D	day in year	Number	189
F	day of week in month	Number	2 (2nd Wed in July)
w	week in year	Number	27
W	week in month	Number	2
a	am/pm marker	Text	PM
k	hour in day (1-24)	Number	24
K	hour in am/pm (0-11)	Number	0
z	time zone	Text	Pacific Standard Time
'	escape for text	Delimiter	(none)
'	single quote	Literal	'

Date Format Pattern Syntax

The number of symbol letters you specify also determines the format.

As exp. symbol for which the presentation style is text if length is 1-3 then abbreviated form is used if length is >= 4 then full form is used. In the above code it can be seen when 'EEE' is given it shows SUN as the day of the week, when 'EEEE' is given then Sunday is displayed.

Same way for month for which presentation style is text/number if length is 1-2 then number form is used when length is 3 (or more) then text form is used.

Source: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/i18n/format/simpleDateFormat.html

That's all for this topic Format Date in Java Using SimpleDateFormat. If you have any doubt or any suggestions to make please drop a comment. Thanks!

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