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The simpledateformat class
The simple Date class of java.util package does not provide enough methods to work with date formatting in java applications. The Date() class is good to return if you intend to work with current date.
However in order to provide better reading like localized formatting and other date formatting java SimpleDateFormat class is the answer.
An example of simpledateformat class
You can use SimpleDateFormat class date formatting codes to display date as per requirements of your application. The examples below shows how to use SimpleDateFormat java class and formatting codes along with list of useful date formatting codes.
Using SimpleDateFormat class
This is how you will include SimpleDateFormat class in project:
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
As you can see, Java SimpleDateFormat is the part of java.text package.
Java SimpleDateFormat example
The example below shows a few date formatting codes to display current date by using SimpleDateFormat in java.
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import java.util.Date;
import java.text.*;
public class date_example {
public static void main(String args[]) {
Date currdate = new Date();
SimpleDateFormat formatdate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
SimpleDateFormat formatdate2 = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
SimpleDateFormat formatdate3 = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss");
System.out.println("Current Date in dd/MM/yyyy format: " + formatdate.format(currdate));
System.out.println("Current Date in MM/dd/yyyy format: " + formatdate2.format(currdate));
System.out.println("Current Date and time in MM/dd/yyyy format: " + formatdate3.format(currdate));
}
}
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The output will be:
Current Date in dd/MM/yyyy format: 15/01/2011
Current Date in MM/dd/yyyy format: 01/15/2011
Current Date and time in MM/dd/yyyy format: 01/15/2011 06:07:45
Get current time example by SimpleDateFormat class
This example gets current time, formats and displays it. It also displays millisecond.
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import java.util.Date;
import java.text.*;
public class date_example {
public static void main(String args[]) {
Date currtime = new Date();
SimpleDateFormat formattime = new SimpleDateFormat("H:m:s");
SimpleDateFormat formattime2 = new SimpleDateFormat("h:m:s S");
System.out.println("Current time in 24 hours format: " + formattime.format(currtime));
System.out.println("Current time in 12 hours format: " + formattime2.format(currtime));
}
}
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The output will be:
Current time in 24 hours format: 18:55:43
Current time in 12 hours format: 6:55:43 255
SimpleDateFormat useful date format codes
The list below can be used to format dates with SimpleDateFormat java object. Following are formatting characters and its short description.
- d = date in Month in digits e.g. 15
- M = Month of year without leading zero (1,2, 12)
- MM = Month with leading zero e.g. 01, 09
- yy = last two digits of year e.g. 01, 02, 11
- yyyy = year in four digits e.g. 2001, 2011
- E = Day name in week (Mon, Tue, Wed)
- D = number of day in year
- h = hour in AM or PM format e.g. 1,5,6
- H = Hour in 24 format e.g. 18, 19, 23
- m =minute in hour
- s = second in minute
- S = millisecond
- z = time zone
Also see: Java date
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