java.time.format.DateTimeParseException: Text could not be parsed at index 21

Question

I get the datetime value as

created_at  '2012-02-22T02:06:58.147Z' Read-only. The time at which this task was created. 

Which is given by Asana API

I am using Java 8 to parse the date time as following

import java.time.*; import java.time.format.*;  public class Times {    public static void main(String[] args) {     final String dateTime = "2012-02-22T02:06:58.147Z";     DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'hh:mm:ss.SX");       final ZonedDateTime parsed = ZonedDateTime.parse(dateTime, formatter);     System.out.println(parsed);   } } 

When I run this, I get the following error

Exception in thread "main" java.time.format.DateTimeParseException: Text '2012-02-22T02:06:58.147Z' could not be parsed at index 21     at java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.parseResolved0(DateTimeFormatter.java:1947)     at java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.parse(DateTimeFormatter.java:1849)     at java.time.ZonedDateTime.parse(ZonedDateTime.java:597)     at Times.main(Times.java:11)     at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)     at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)     at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)     at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:140) 

What is not right here?

Answer 1

If your input always has a time zone of "zulu" ("Z" = UTC), then you can use DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT (implicitly):

final Instant parsed = Instant.parse(dateTime); 

If time zone varies and has the form of "+01:00" or "+01:00:00" (when not "Z"), then you can use DateTimeFormatter.ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME:

DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME; final ZonedDateTime parsed = ZonedDateTime.parse(dateTime, formatter); 

If neither is the case, you can construct a DateTimeFormatter in the same manner as DateTimeFormatter.ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME is constructed.

---

Your current pattern has several problems:

• not using strict mode (ResolverStyle.STRICT);
• using yyyy instead of uuuu (yyyy will not work in strict mode);
• using 12-hour hh instead of 24-hour HH;
• using only one digit S for fractional seconds, but input has three.

Answer 2

The default parser can parse your input. So you don't need a custom formatter and

String dateTime = "2012-02-22T02:06:58.147Z"; ZonedDateTime d = ZonedDateTime.parse(dateTime); 

works as expected.