In this example we will show you how to use the SimpleDateFormat class to format Date objects using special patterns  to better fit the needs of the application.     The examples below show you how to easily do this in Java.

Custom Date Format Java Code

package com.omega.tutorial;

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Locale;

public class CustomDateFormatExample {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Date myDate = new Date();
    SimpleDateFormat myFormat;
    String result;

    System.out.println("CustomDateFormat Example");
    System.out.println("-------------------------");

    // Default Format
    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat();
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #1: " + result);

    // Different date patterns
    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #2: " + result);

    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yy-MM-dd");
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #3: " + result);

    // Different date patterns, with day of week as 3 char
    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, MMM dd, yyyy ");
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #4: " + result);

    // Different date patterns, with full day of week and time
    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(
                       "EEEE, MMMM dd, yyyy 'at' HH:MM:ss a");
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #5: " + result);

    // Time pattern, with hours, min, secs, ms and time zone
    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:MM:ss.SSS zzz");
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #6: " + result);

    // Date with Era
    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MMMM.yyyy.dd GG");
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #7: " + result);

    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MMMM.yyyy.dd GG hh:mm.ss");
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #8: " + result);

    // Adding locales, English, French and Gemany
    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(
                              "HH:MM:ss.SSS zzzzz", Locale.ENGLISH);
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #9: " + result);

    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(
                               "HH:MM:ss.SSS zzzzz", Locale.FRANCE);
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #10: " + result);

    myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(
                               "HH:MM:ss.SSS zzzzz", Locale.GERMAN);
    result = myFormat.format(myDate);
    System.out.println("Pattern #11: " + result);
  }
}

Useful Formatting Codes

Output:

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