Question

I have a string named DateCompareOld, it has the value "Fri Aug 12 16:08:41 EDT 2011". I want to convert this to a date object.

 SimpleDateFormat dateType =  new SimpleDateFormat("E M dd H:m:s z yyyy");
 Date convertDate = dateType.parse(DateCompareOld);

But everytime I try this, I get a parse exception. I have tried other SimpleDateFormat formatting criteria, but it always fails.

Suggestions?

Answer 1

Try this format:

EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy

Quick test:

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy");
    System.out.println(df.parse("Fri Aug 12 16:08:41 EDT 2011"));
}

// outputs
Fri Aug 12 15:08:41 CDT 2011

Output is in CDT, since that’s where I am, but the value is right.