java local timeformat without year

Question

I like to format the local timeformat into a string without the year. At the moment I am able to show the local format containing the year:

java.text.DateFormat df = java.text.DateFormat.getDateInstance(java.text.DateFormat.SHORT);
String dateString = df.format(date);

therefore i receive an time string output like

12.03.2012
03/12/2012

for the different countries. Now i like to get a short form like

12.03.
03/12

how would i do this?

thanks for your help!

Answer 1

I needed to convert date to String removing year. String should keep locale settings. Date format is of type DateFormat.LONG, not DateFormat.SHORT. E.g., full string is September 18, 2012, not 09/18/12.

My solution (based on Alex post):

import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class Test {


private static void testLocaleDates() {
    String fmtString = "%-20s %-25s %-25s %-20s %-20s";
    System.out.println(String.format(fmtString, "Locale", "Complete date", "Pattern", "Yearless date", "Yearless pattern"));
    Pattern regExpPattern = Pattern.compile("Sweden|Spain|Russia|Ukraine|States|France|German|Japan|China", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);

    for (Locale locale : Locale.getAvailableLocales()) {
        boolean isPrint = regExpPattern.matcher(locale.getDisplayCountry()).find(); 
        if (!isPrint)
            continue;
        Date date = new Date();
        String dateTxt = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.LONG, locale).format(date);
        SimpleDateFormat sdf = (SimpleDateFormat) SimpleDateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.LONG, locale);
        String pattern = sdf.toPattern();
        // Checking 'de' we omit problems with Spain locale
        String regExpPatternTxt = pattern.contains("de") ? "[^Mm]*[Yy]+[^Mm]*" : "[^DdMm]*[Yy]+[^DdMm]*";
        String yearlessPattern = pattern.replaceAll(regExpPatternTxt, "");
        SimpleDateFormat yearlessSDF = new SimpleDateFormat(yearlessPattern, locale);

        System.out.println(String.format(fmtString, locale.getDisplayCountry(), dateTxt, pattern, yearlessSDF.format(date), yearlessPattern));
    }
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
    testLocaleDates();
}
}

Program output:

Locale            Complete date          Pattern                Yearless date     Yearless pattern  
Japan             2012/09/18             yyyy/MM/dd             09/18             MM/dd             
Japan             H24.09.18              Gy.MM.dd               09.18             MM.dd             
United States     September 18, 2012     MMMM d, yyyy           September 18      MMMM d            
Spain             18 de septiembre de 2012d' de 'MMMM' de 'yyyy  18 de septiembre  d' de 'MMMM       
United States     18 de septiembre de 2012d' de 'MMMM' de 'yyyy  18 de septiembre  d' de 'MMMM       
Ukraine           18 вересня 2012        d MMMM yyyy            18 вересня        d MMMM            
Spain             18 / setembre / 2012   d' / 'MMMM' / 'yyyy    18 / setembre     d' / 'MMMM        
Russia            18 Сентябрь 2012 г.    d MMMM yyyy 'г.'       18 Сентябрь       d MMMM            
China             2012年9月18日             yyyy'年'M'月'd'日'        9月18日             M'月'd'日'          
France            18 septembre 2012      d MMMM yyyy            18 septembre      d MMMM            
Germany           18. September 2012     d. MMMM yyyy           18. September     d. MMMM           
Sweden            den 18 september 2012  'den 'd MMMM yyyy      den 18 september  'den 'd MMMM      

Answer 2

You can use SimpleDateFormat:

Date date = new Date();
java.text.SimpleDateFormat df = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd");
String dateString = df.format(date);

Output:

03/15

EDIT:

After researching locale formats further, and expanding on Peters answer, here's some code to demonstrator differences between toPattern() and toLocalizedPattern():

import java.text.*
import java.util.*

ArrayList<Locale> locales = new ArrayList<Locale>();
locales.add(Locale.US);
locales.add(Locale.UK);
locales.add(Locale.GERMANY);
locales.add(Locale.CHINA);

Date date = new Date();

for(Locale l : locales)
{
    SimpleDateFormat sdf = (SimpleDateFormat) SimpleDateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT, l);
    String pattern = sdf.toPattern();
    String localizedPattern = sdf.toLocalizedPattern()
    println "country: " + l.getDisplayName();
    println "pattern: " + pattern;
    println "localizedPattern: " + localizedPattern;

    try {
        SimpleDateFormat temp = new SimpleDateFormat(localizedPattern, l);
        println "localized pattern re-parsed successfully"
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
        println "localized pattern re-parsed unsuccessfully: " + e.getMessage();
    }
    SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, l);
    String dateString = df.format(date);
    println "resulting date: " + dateString
    String yearlessPattern = pattern.replaceAll("\\W?[Yy]+\\W?", "");
    println "yearlessPattern = " + yearlessPattern;
    SimpleDateFormat yearlessSDF = new SimpleDateFormat(yearlessPattern, l);
    println "resulting date without year: " + yearlessSDF.format(date) + "\n";
}

Produces following output:

country: English (United States)
pattern: M/d/yy
localizedPattern: M/d/yy
localized pattern re-parsed successfully
resulting date: 3/15/12
yearlessPattern = M/d
resulting date without year: 3/15

country: English (United Kingdom)
pattern: dd/MM/yy
localizedPattern: dd/MM/yy
localized pattern re-parsed successfully
resulting date: 15/03/12
yearlessPattern = dd/MM
resulting date without year: 15/03

country: German (Germany)
pattern: dd.MM.yy
localizedPattern: tt.MM.uu
localized pattern re-parsed unsuccessfully: Illegal pattern character 't'
resulting date: 15.03.12
yearlessPattern = dd.MM
resulting date without year: 15.03

country: Chinese (China)
pattern: yy-M-d
localizedPattern: aa-n-j
localized pattern re-parsed unsuccessfully: Illegal pattern character 'n'
resulting date: 12-3-15
yearlessPattern = M-d
resulting date without year: 3-15

So in conclusion, to display a localized date without a year:

String yearlessPattern = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT).toPattern().replaceAll("\\W?[Yy]+\\W?", "");