3

I want to parse an String to Date but the date obtained is incorrect. my code is like :

SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yy hh.mm.ss.S a");
date1 = df.parse("17-DEC-19 05.40.39.364000000 PM");

but date1 is: Sat Dec 21 22:47:19 IRST 2019

I need to date: * Dec 17 17:40:39 IRST 2019

2
  • You have an overflow here, i.e. those milli seconds you added are interpreted as 364000 seconds or 4 days 5 hours 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Those are added to the parsed date. Try to add df.setLenient(false) and you should get an error. Commented Mar 26, 2021 at 6:45
  • I recommend you don’t use SimpleDateFormat and Date. Those classes are poorly designed and long outdated, the former in particular notoriously troublesome. Instead use LocalDateTime and DateTimeFormatter, both from java.time, the modern Java date and time API. Commented Mar 26, 2021 at 10:49

1 Answer 1

2

The SimpleDateFormat does not have precision beyond milliseconds (.SSS).

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

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
        SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yy hh.mm.ss.SSS a", Locale.ENGLISH);
        Date date1 = df.parse("17-DEC-19 05.40.39.364 PM");
        System.out.println(date1);
    }
}

Output:

Tue Dec 17 17:40:39 GMT 2019

Note that the java.util date-time API and their formatting API, SimpleDateFormat are outdated and error-prone. It is recommended to stop using them completely and switch to the modern date-time API* .

Using modern date-time API:

import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatterBuilder;
import java.util.Locale;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args)  {
        DateTimeFormatter df = new DateTimeFormatterBuilder()
                .parseCaseInsensitive() // For case-insensitive (e.g. AM/am) parsing
                .appendPattern("dd-MMM-yy hh.mm.ss.n a")
                .toFormatter(Locale.ENGLISH);
        
        LocalDateTime ldt = LocalDateTime.parse("17-DEC-19 05.40.39.364000000 PM", df);
        System.out.println(ldt);
    }
}

Output:

2019-12-17T17:40:39.364

Learn more about the modern date-time API from Trail: Date Time.


* For any reason, if you have to stick to Java 6 or Java 7, you can use ThreeTen-Backport which backports most of the java.time functionality to Java 6 & 7. If you are working for an Android project and your Android API level is still not compliant with Java-8, check Java 8+ APIs available through desugaring and How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project.

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.