How to Convert String to Date in Java

In this tutorial we are going to see how to convert String to Date using SimpleDateFormat.
SimpleDateFormat is a concrete class for formatting and parse dates in a locale-sensitive manner. It allows for formatting date to text, parsing text to date an d normalization.
Date and Time Patterns
Below table contains characters used in SimpleDateFormat for date time conversion.

Pattern	Description	Example
G	Era designator	AD
y	Year	2013; 96
Y	Week year	2013; 09
M	Month in year	July; Jul; 07
w	Week in year	25
W	Week in month	3
D	Day in year	155
d	Day in month	10
F	Day of week in month	3
E	Day name in week	Tuesday; Tue
u	Day number of week (1 = Monday, ..., 7 = Sunday)	2
a	Am/pm marker	PM
H	Hour in day (0-23)	0
k	Hour in day (1-24)	24
K	Hour in am/pm (0-11)	0
h	Hour in am/pm (1-12)	12
m	Minute in hour	30
s	Second in minute	56
S	Millisecond	786
z	Time zone	Pacific Standard Time; PST; GMT-08:00
Z	Time zone	-0800
X	Time zone	-08; -0800; -08:00

Date Format Conversions
1. 12-Oct-2013 format to Java Util Date

package com.javatutorialscorner.util;

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

public class StringToDateConvertion {

 /**
  * @param args
  */
 public static void main(String[] args) {
  // TODO Auto-generated method stub
  
  SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = null;
  String inputDate = "12-Oct-2013";
  
  try {
   dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yyyy");
   Date utilDate = dateFormat.parse(inputDate);
   System.out.println("Util Date : "+utilDate);
   String dateString = dateFormat.format(utilDate);
   System.out.println("Date String : "+dateString);
   
  } catch (ParseException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  }
  

 }

}

In above example month format ‘M’ used in three time.This will interpret month as String.If we use less than three M month will be interpreted as number.

Output

Util Date : Sat Oct 12 00:00:00 IST 2013

Date String : 12-Oct-2013

2. 12-10-2013 format to Java Util Date

package com.javatutorialscorner.util;

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

public class StringToDateConvertion {

 /**
  * @param args
  */
 public static void main(String[] args) {
  // TODO Auto-generated method stub
  
  SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = null;
  String inputDate = "12-10-2013";
  
  try {
   dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy");
   Date utilDate = dateFormat.parse(inputDate);
   System.out.println("Util Date : "+utilDate);
   String dateString = dateFormat.format(utilDate);
   System.out.println("Date String : "+dateString);
   
  } catch (ParseException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  }
  

 }

}

here ‘M’ used in two times so month interpreted as number

Output

Util Date : Sat Oct 12 00:00:00 IST 2013

Date String : 12-10-2013

3. 12/10/2013 format to Java Util Date

package com.javatutorialscorner.util;

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

public class StringToDateConvertion {

 /**
  * @param args
  */
 public static void main(String[] args) {
  // TODO Auto-generated method stub
  
  SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = null;
  String inputDate = "12/10/2013";
  
  try {
   dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
   Date utilDate = dateFormat.parse(inputDate);
   System.out.println("Util Date : "+utilDate);
   String dateString = dateFormat.format(utilDate);
   System.out.println("Date String : "+dateString);
   
  } catch (ParseException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  }
  

 }

}

Output

Util Date : Sat Oct 12 00:00:00 IST 2013

Date String : 12/10/2013

4. Oct 12, 2013 format to Java Util Date

package com.javatutorialscorner.util;

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

public class StringToDateConvertion {

 /**
  * @param args
  */
 public static void main(String[] args) {
  // TODO Auto-generated method stub
  
  SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = null;
  String inputDate = "Oct 12, 2013";
  
  try {
   dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd,yyyy");
   Date utilDate = dateFormat.parse(inputDate);
   System.out.println("Util Date : "+utilDate);
   String dateString = dateFormat.format(utilDate);
   System.out.println("Date String : "+dateString);
   
  } catch (ParseException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  }
  

 }

}

Output

Util Date : Sat Oct 12 00:00:00 IST 2013

Date String : Oct 12,2013

5. Sat,Oct 12 2013 format to Java Util Date

package com.javatutorialscorner.util;

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

public class StringToDateConvertion {

 /**
  * @param args
  */
 public static void main(String[] args) {
  // TODO Auto-generated method stub
  
  SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = null;
  String inputDate = "Sat,Oct 12 2013";
  
  try {
   dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("E,MMM dd yyyy");
   Date utilDate = dateFormat.parse(inputDate);
   System.out.println("Util Date : "+utilDate);
   String dateString = dateFormat.format(utilDate);
   System.out.println("Date String : "+dateString);
   
  } catch (ParseException e) {
   // TODO Auto-generated catch block
   e.printStackTrace();
  }
  

 }

}

Output