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e316. Formatting the Time Using a Custom Format

A pattern of special characters is used to specify the format of the time. This example demonstrates some of the characters. For a complete listing, see the javadoc documentation for the SimpleDateFormat class.

Note: This example formats dates using the default locale (which, in the author's case, is Locale.ENGLISH). If the example is run in a different locale, the text (e.g., month names) will not be the same.

    Format formatter;
    
    // The hour (1-12)
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("h");     // 8
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("hh");    // 08
    
    // The hour (0-23)
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("H");     // 8
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("HH");    // 08
    
    // The minutes
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("m");     // 7
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("mm");    // 07
    
    // The seconds
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("s");     // 3
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("ss");    // 03
    
    // The am/pm marker
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("a");     // AM
    
    // The time zone
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("z");     // PST
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("zzzz");  // Pacific Standard Time
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("Z");     // -0800
    
    // Get today's date
    Date date = new Date();
    
    // Some examples
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("hh:mm:ss a");
    String s = formatter.format(date);
    // 01:12:53 AM
    
    formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("HH.mm.ss");
    s = formatter.format(date);
    // 14.36.33

Related Examples

e317. Parsing the Time Using a Custom Format
e318. Formatting and Parsing a Time for a Locale Using Default Formats
e319. Formatting and Parsing a Time for a Locale

See also: Dates Messsages Numbers Words and Sentences

© 2002 Addison-Wesley.