Java String to Date translateToDate(String aDate, String aFormat)

Description

Takes a string representing a date and converts it to a real date according to a given format.

License

Apache License

Parameter

Parameter	Description
aDate	the date string to be converted
aFormat	the pattern that the date is formatted in.

Exception

Parameter	Description
Exception	if the format is not supported or the date is incorrectlyformatted

Return

Date the converted date

Declaration

public static Date translateToDate(String aDate, String aFormat) throws Exception 

Method Source Code

//package com.java2s;
/*//from   w  ww.ja v  a2s .c  o  m
 *  Copyright 2006 The National Library of New Zealand
 *
 *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 *  limitations under the License.
 */

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

public class Main {
    /** list of acceptable date formats. */
    private static final String[] ACCEPTABLE_DATE_FORMATS = new String[] { "dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm", "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm",
            "dd MM yyyy HH:mm", "dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm",

            "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm", "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm", "yyyy MM dd HH:mm", "yyyy.MM.dd HH:mm",

            "yyyy-MMM-dd HH:mm", "yyyy/MMM/dd HH:mm", "yyyy MMM dd HH:mm", "yyyy.MMM.dd HH:mm",

            "dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm", "dd/MMM/yyyy HH:mm", "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm", "dd.MMM.yyyy HH:mm",

            "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss", "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss", "yyyy MM dd HH:mm:ss", "yyyy.MM.dd HH:mm:ss",

            "dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss", "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss", "dd MM yyyy HH:mm:ss", "dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss",

            "yyyy-MMM-dd HH:mm:ss", "yyyy/MMM/dd HH:mm:ss", "yyyy MMM dd HH:mm:ss", "yyyy.MMM.dd HH:mm:ss",

            "dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss", "dd/MMM/yyyy HH:mm:ss", "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss", "dd.MMM.yyyy HH:mm:ss",

            "dd-MM-yyyy", "dd/MM/yyyy", "dd\\MM\\yyyy", "dd.MM.yyyy", "dd MM yyyy", "yyyy-MM-dd",

            "dd-MMM-yyyy", "dd/MMM/yyyy", "dd\\MMM\\yyyy", "dd.MMM.yyyy", "dd MMM yyyy", "yyyy-MMM-dd", };

    /**
     * Takes a string representing a date and converts it to a real date. The
     * format of the string is "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss". This method makes use of
     * the translateToDate(date,format) method
     *
     * @param aDate
     *            the date string to be converted
     * @return Date the converted date
     */
    public static Date translateToDate(String aDate) {
        // run through every combination of acceptable date/time to find a
        // value...
        Date candidate = null;
        for (int d = 0; d < ACCEPTABLE_DATE_FORMATS.length; d++) {
            try {
                candidate = translateToDate(aDate, ACCEPTABLE_DATE_FORMATS[d]);
                return candidate;
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                // didn't work keep trying...
                candidate = null;
            }
        }

        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Date " + aDate + " not formatted correctly");
    }

    /**
     * Takes a string representing a date and converts it to a real date
     * according to a given format.
     *
     * @param aDate
     *            the date string to be converted
     * @param aFormat
     *            the pattern that the date is formatted in.
     * @return Date the converted date
     * @throws Exception
     *             if the format is not supported or the date is incorrectly
     *             formatted
     */
    public static Date translateToDate(String aDate, String aFormat) throws Exception {
        SimpleDateFormat dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat();
        dateFormatter.applyPattern(aFormat);
        Date returnDate = dateFormatter.parse(aDate);
        return returnDate;
    }
}

Related

1. toDateTimeString(java.util.Date date)
2. toDateTimeString(java.util.Date date)
3. toDateWithFormatString(String date, String format)
4. toDateWithTimezone(String dateTime, String pattern)
5. transformStringToDate(String dateString)