Question

Possible Duplicate:
How to sanity check a date in java

I want to convert a String into Date..with a condition that accepted String format should be only this yyyy/MM/dd-HH:MM:SS.

Date provided in any other format should give error.

try {
    String str_date = "25/09/2012-13:43:20";
    DateFormat formatter;
    Date date;
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy/MM/dd-hh:mm:ss");
    date = (Date) formatter.parse(str_date);
    System.out.println("Today is " + date);
} catch (ParseException e) {
    System.out.println("Exception :" + e);
}

Since str_date is having format dd/MM/yyyy-hh:mm:ss, which is invalid it should through exception, but it is not throwing any expection.

The output is Today is Mon Mar 05 13:43:20 IST 31

Answer 1

I just a quick look at the Java doc for the parse method you are using and it says this:

By default, parsing is lenient: If the input is not in the form used by this object’s format method but can still be parsed as a date, then the parse succeeds. Clients may insist on strict adherence to the format by calling setLenient(false).

Try putting formatter.setLenient(false); on the line after formatter is instantiated. That will force the formatter to use ONLY the format you have specified.