java parse date GRAVE null

Question

In this code,

        String str="Sun Feb 07 00:27:16 CET 2021";
    SimpleDateFormat sdf=new SimpleDateFormat("E MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy");
    try {
        java.util.Date date=sdf.parse(str);
        System.out.print(date.getTime());
    } catch (ParseException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(NewClass.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }

It shows GRAVE: null java.text.ParseException: Unparseable date: "Sun Feb 07 00:27:16 CET 2021" How to solve it plz!

Answer 1

There are two problems with your code:

1. Not using the correct format: you have used E instead of EEE
2. Not using Locale: make it a habit to use the applicable Locale with date-time parsing/formatting API. Your date-time string is in English and therefore you should use an English-specific locale e.g. Locale.ENGLISH, Locale.US etc.

Correct code:

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

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
        String str = "Sun Feb 07 00:27:16 CET 2021";
        SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
        java.util.Date date = sdf.parse(str);
        System.out.print(date.getTime());
    }
}

Output:

1612654036000

The date-time API of java.util and their formatting API, SimpleDateFormat are outdated and error-prone. It is recommended to stop using them completely and switch to the modern date-time API.

• For any reason, if you have to stick to Java 6 or Java 7, you can use ThreeTen-Backport which backports most of the java.time functionality to Java 6 & 7.
• If you are working for an Android project and your Android API level is still not compliant with Java-8, check Java 8+ APIs available through desugaring and How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project.

Using the modern date-time API:

import java.text.ParseException;
import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
import java.util.Locale;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
        String str = "Sun Feb 07 00:27:16 CET 2021";
        DateTimeFormatter dtf = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z uuuu", Locale.ENGLISH);
        ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.parse(str, dtf);
        System.out.println(zdt);
        System.out.println(zdt.toInstant().toEpochMilli());
    }
}

Output:

2021-02-07T00:27:16+01:00[Europe/Paris]
1612654036000

Learn more about the modern date-time API from Trail: Date Time.