Java Data Type How to - List date formats available in SimpleDateFormat class

Question

We would like to know how to list date formats available in SimpleDateFormat class.

Answer

       // SimpleDateFormat can be used to control the date/time display format:
       //   E (day of week): 3E or fewer (in text xxx), >3E (in full text)
       //   M (month): M (in number), MM (in number with leading zero)
       //              3M: (in text xxx), >3M: (in full text full)
       //   h (hour): h, hh (with leading zero)
       //   m (minute)
       //   s (second)
       //   a (AM/PM)
       //   H (hour in 0 to 23)
       //   z (time zone)
       //  (there may be more listed under the API - I didn't check)

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
/*w w  w.  j av  a  2 s  . c o  m*/
public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Date now = new Date();

    System.out.println("toString(): " + now); // dow mon dd hh:mm:ss zzz yyyy

    SimpleDateFormat dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat(
        "E, y-M-d 'at' h:m:s a z");
    System.out.println("Format 1:   " + dateFormatter.format(now));

    dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat("E yyyy.MM.dd 'at' hh:mm:ss a zzz");
    System.out.println("Format 2:   " + dateFormatter.format(now));

    dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE, MMMM d, yyyy");
    System.out.println("Format 3:   " + dateFormatter.format(now));

  }

}

The code above generates the following result.