How to convert Java String to Date Object

In Java, String can be converted into Date using the parse() method of the LocalDate and SimpleDateFormat classes.

The SimpleDateFormat parses the String in accordance with the specified format of the Date. For example, dd/MM/yyyy , MM, dd, yyyy etc.

Example 1:

Here, the String is converted into the Date in the specified format by using the parse() method of SimpleDateFormat class.

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

public class StudyTonight
{    
	public static void main(String [] args)throws Exception
	{  
		String d1 = "23/02/1997"; 
		String d2 = "23-Feb-1997";  
		String d3 = "02 23, 1997";  
		String d4 = "Sun, Feb 23 1997";  
		String d5 = "Sun, Feb 23 1997 22:12:21";  
		String d6 = "23-Feb-1997 22:12:21";

		SimpleDateFormat f1 = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");  
		SimpleDateFormat f2 = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yyyy");  
		SimpleDateFormat f3 = new SimpleDateFormat("MM dd, yyyy");  
		SimpleDateFormat f4 = new SimpleDateFormat("E, MMM dd yyyy");  
		SimpleDateFormat f5 = new SimpleDateFormat("E, MMM dd yyyy HH:mm:ss");  
		SimpleDateFormat f6 = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss");  

		Date date1 = f1.parse(d1);  
		Date date2 = f2.parse(d2);  
		Date date3 = f3.parse(d3);  
		Date date4 = f4.parse(d4);  
		Date date5 = f5.parse(d5);  
		Date date6 = f6.parse(d6); 

		System.out.println(d1+"\t"+date1);  
		System.out.println(d2+"\t"+date2);  
		System.out.println(d3+"\t"+date3);  
		System.out.println(d4+"\t"+date4);  
		System.out.println(d5+"\t"+date5);  
		System.out.println(d6+"\t"+date6); 
	}
}

23/02/1997 Sun Feb 23 00:00:00 UTC 1997
23-Feb-1997 Sun Feb 23 00:00:00 UTC 1997
02 23, 1997 Sun Feb 23 00:00:00 UTC 1997
Sun, Feb 23 1997 Sun Feb 23 00:00:00 UTC 1997
Sun, Feb 23 1997 22:12:21 Sun Feb 23 22:12:21 UTC 1997
23-Feb-1997 22:12:21 Sun Feb 23 22:12:21 UTC 1997

Example 2: Java 8 - LocalDate Class

If you are working with Java 8 or higher version then you can use DateTimeFormatter class to format the date and LocalDate class to convert the string into date object. See the example below.

import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
import java.util.Locale;

public class StudyTonight {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		String string = "January 12, 2020";
		DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMMM d, yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
		LocalDate date = LocalDate.parse(string, formatter);
		System.out.println(date);
	}
}

2020-01-12