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Java 8 – DateTimeFormatter

Java examples to use DateTimeFormatter for formatting ZonedDateTime, LocalDateTime, LocalDate and LocalTime to string with predefined and custom patterns.

DateTimeFormat is thread-safe and immutable.

1. Create DateTimeFormatter

We can create DateTimeFormatter in two ways:

  1. Using inbuilt patterns
  2. Using custom patterns using ofPattern() method
  3. Using localized styles with FormatStyle, such as long or medium
//Use inbuilt pattern constants
DateTimeFormatter inBuiltFormatter1 = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME;
DateTimeFormatter inBuiltFormatter2 = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_LOCAL_DATE_TIME;

//Define your own custom patterns
DateTimeFormatter customFormatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM/dd/yyyy 'at' hh:mma z");

//Using FormatStyle
DateTimeFormatter customFormatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDateTime(FormatStyle.LONG);

2. Format ZonedDateTime

Java example to format ZonedDateTime to string with DateTimeFormatter.

//Create formatter
DateTimeFormatter FOMATTER = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM/dd/yyyy 'at' hh:mm a z");

//Zoned datetime instance
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.now();

//Get formatted String
String zdtString = FOMATTER.format(zdt);

System.out.println(zdtString);		// 07/15/2018 at 02:51 PM IST

3. Format LocalDateTime

LocalDate does not have timezone part. So create the pattern accordingly.

//Create formatter
DateTimeFormatter FOMATTER = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM/dd/yyyy 'at' hh:mm a");

//Local date time instance
LocalDateTime localDateTime = LocalDateTime.now();

//Get formatted String
String ldtString = FOMATTER.format(localDateTime);

System.out.println(ldtString);		// 07/15/2018 at 02:49 PM

4. Format LocalDate

LocalDate does not have time and timezone parts. So create the pattern accordingly.

//Create formatter
DateTimeFormatter FOMATTER = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM/dd/yyyy");
		
//Local date instance
LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.now();

//Get formatted String
String dateString = FOMATTER.format(localDate);

System.out.println(dateString);		//07/15/2018

5. Format LocalTime

LocalTime does not have date and timezone parts. So create the pattern accordingly.

//Create formatter
DateTimeFormatter FOMATTER = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("hh:mm a");

//Local time instance
LocalTime localTime = LocalTime.now();

//Get formatted String
String localTimeString = FOMATTER.format(localTime);

System.out.println(localTimeString);		// 02:53 PM

6. Useful formatting patterns

PatternExample
yyyy-MM-dd (ISO)“2018-07-14”
dd-MMM-yyyy“14-Jul-2018”
dd/MM/yyyy“14/07/2018”
E, MMM dd yyyy“Sat, Jul 14 2018”
h:mm a“12:08 PM”
EEEE, MMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss a“Saturday, Jul 14, 2018 14:31:06 PM”
yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ“2018-07-14T14:31:30+0530”
hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz“12 o’clock PM, Pacific Daylight Time”
K:mm a, z“0:08 PM, PDT”

7. More Examples

  1. Java 8 ResolverStyle.STRICT – Strict date validation and parsing

Happy Learning !!

References:

  1. DateTimeFormatter Javadoc
  2. ZonedDateTime Javadoc
  3. LocalDateTime Javadoc
  4. LocalDate Javadoc
  5. LocalTime Javadoc

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About Lokesh Gupta

A family guy with fun loving nature. Love computers, programming and solving everyday problems. Find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Feedback, Discussion and Comments

  1. Phlip

    October 29, 2019

    Why does String dateString = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern(“MM/dd/yy”).format(time); give me “Unsupported field: MonthOfYear”? It looks exactly like your examples

Comments are closed on this article!

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