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

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

Further Reading:

Java Convert String to LocalDate Java ZonedDateTime class Java LocalDateTime class