Java parse different date types

Question

Is there some simple way to parse different type of dates in java without playing with the date strings?

I have to deal with 6 different types of date:

16 May 2013 19:27:12 CEST
Tue, 14 May 2013 13:15:00 +0200
2013-05-20T12:01:57Z
13/11/2012 15:30:00
11.11.2013
1970-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

I don't know if a date will arrive in one format or the other from the server...

thank you!

check out JodaTime http://joda-time.sourceforge.net/apidocs/org/joda/time/format/DateTimeFormatter.html#parseDateTime%28java.lang.String%29 — hovanessyan, May 20 '13 at 12:21
I want to keep the package size as small as possible so I don't think I'm going to use an external library only for dates. Thank you anyway! This is a good answer! — aveschini, May 20 '13 at 13:15

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

4

You can iterate over all formats and try to parse, ignore the exception. If no format fits, throw an exception.

similar answer

edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

Community

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answered May 20 '13 at 12:22

BobTheBuilder

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 20 '13 at 12:31

1

The best-known alternative to the standard API is Joda-Time. Also JSR 310 an improved Date/Time API for Java SE 7

answered May 20 '13 at 12:31

sivan

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This is a good answer but I should keep the package size as small as possible so I don't think I'm going to use external libraries only for dates. Thank you anyway of course1 – aveschini May 20 '13 at 13:14

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 20 '13 at 13:04

I don't think there's an actual "easy" way to deal with such different date formats. If you have the option to nail a "standard date format" to the server that would be the easy way.

A common approach is to build a DateParser for every 'freaky' date format that you have to deal with. Here's an example for your first date, using Joda Time:

String date1 = "16 May 2013 19:27:12 CEST";
        DateTimeFormatter fmt = new DateTimeFormatterBuilder()
            .appendDayOfMonth(2)
            .appendLiteral(' ')
            .appendMonthOfYearShortText()
            .appendLiteral(' ')
            .appendYear(4, 4)
            .appendLiteral(' ')
            .appendHourOfDay(2)
            .appendLiteral(":")
            .appendMinuteOfDay(2)
            .appendLiteral(":")
            .appendSecondOfDay(2)
            .appendLiteral(' ')
            .appendLiteral("CEST")
            .toFormatter();

        DateTime parseDateTime = fmt.parseDateTime(date1);

        System.out.println(parseDateTime);

I hope this will help you build DateParsers for the other cases. And remember - always save your dates in relation to UTC!

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

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To elaborate on the stock "Use Joda-Time" answer, in Joda-Time you can create a DateTimeParser for each of your 6 formats, then append them to a single DateTimeFormatter.

See the accepted answer to this question: Using Joda Date & Time API to parse multiple formats

edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

Community

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answered May 20 '13 at 13:14

GenericJon

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I think this is the best answer because I didn't specify the package size issue. Thank you! – aveschini May 20 '13 at 13:19

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 20 '13 at 12:38

Here is the sample code, for date string like 2001-07-04T12:08:56.235-0700 we need to use following format "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"

SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ");
Date date = simpleDateFormat.parse("2001-07-04T12:08:56.235-0700");
System.out.println(date);

details are available in below mentioned link

SimpleDateFormat

Java parse different date types

5 Answers5