Unexpected java SimpleDateFormat parse exception

Question

I can't understand why this few lines

    Date submissionT;
    SimpleDateFormat tempDate = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM d HH:mm:ss z yyyy");

    public time_print(String time) {
        try {
          submissionT=tempDate.parse(time);
        }
        catch (Exception e) {     
          System.out.println(e.toString() + ", " + time);
        }

    }

Cause exceptions and print out

    java.text.ParseException: Unparseable date: "Tue Mar 31 06:09:00 CEST 2009", Tue Mar 31 06:09:00 CEST 2009

... while the "unparsable" time is compliant with the format string i've passed to SimpleDateFormat().. Any Idea?

I've printed out with println().. time is a String and contains "Tue Mar 31 06:09:00 CEST 2009 " — Emilio
– Emilio, Commented Apr 23, 2009 at 11:12

kgiannakakis · Accepted Answer · 2009-04-23 11:33:50Z

24

It is a Locale issue. Use:

sdf = SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM d HH:mm:ss z yyyy", Locale.US);

answered Apr 23, 2009 at 11:33

kgiannakakis

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1 Comment

golimar Over a year ago

Would be nice if the exception message was not just "Unparseable date" but also the position in the String where it failed...

Yuval Adam · Accepted Answer · 2009-04-23 11:13:56Z

-1

Works for me.

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args)
{
    time_print("Tue Mar 31 06:09:00 CEST 2009");
}

static Date submissionT;
static SimpleDateFormat tempDate = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM d HH:mm:ss z yyyy");

public static void time_print(String time) {
    try {
      submissionT=tempDate.parse(time);
      System.out.println(submissionT);
    }
    catch (Exception e) {
      System.out.println(e.toString() + ", " + time);
    }

}

}

answered Apr 23, 2009 at 11:13

Yuval Adam

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1 Comment

kgiannakakis Over a year ago

It only works because of your default Locale matches the expected one.

Matt Large · Accepted Answer · 2009-04-23 12:05:51Z

-1

The 'z' in your format represents TimeZone and Java only recognises certain timezone ID's. You can get the list out of the TimeZone class as a String Array. CEST does not appear in the list I just generated from JDK 1.5

String[] aZones = TimeZone.getAvailableIDs();
    for (int i = 0; i < aZones.length; i++) {
        String string = aZones[i];
        System.out.println(string);
    }

Hope this helps.

answered Apr 23, 2009 at 12:05

Matt Large

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