Specific date format from date string in java

Question

I have a date string which is

"20120514045300.0Z"

I'm trying to figure out how to convert this to the following format

"2012-05-14-T045300.0Z"

How do you suggest that I should solve it?

Answer 1

Instead of diving into hard-to-read string manipulation code, you should parse the date into a decent representation and from that representation format the output. If possible, I would recommend you to stick with some existing API.

Here's a solution based on SimpleDateFormat. (It hardcodes the 0Z part though.)

String input = "20120514045300.0Z";

DateFormat inputDF  = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMddHHmmss'.0Z'");
DateFormat outputDF = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'-T'HHmmss.'0Z'");

Date date = inputDF.parse(input);
String output = outputDF.format(date);

System.out.println(output);  // Prints 2012-05-14-T045300.0Z as expected.

(Adapted from here: How to get Date part from given String?.)

Answer 2

You need to parse the date and them format it to desirable form. Use SimpleDateFormat to do it. You can also check out this question for more details.