Convert String to Calendar Object in Java

Question

I am new to Java, usually work with PHP.

I am trying to convert this string:

Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011

Into a Calendar Object so that I can easily pull the Year and Month like this:

String yearAndMonth = cal.get(Calendar.YEAR)+cal.get(Calendar.MONTH);

Would it be a bad idea to parse it manually? Using a substring method?

Any advice would help thanks!

Answer 1

No new Calendar needs to be created, SimpleDateFormat already uses a Calendar underneath.

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy", Locale.EN_US);
Date date = sdf.parse("Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011"));// all done
Calendar cal = sdf.getCalendar();

(I can't comment yet, that's why I created a new answer)

Answer 2

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
cal.setTime(sdf.parse("Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011"));// all done

note: set Locale according to your environment/requirement

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See Also

• Javadoc