How to Parse the Output of Java\'s Date#toString() Method?

Parsing Output of Date#toString() in Java

When working with dates in Java, you may encounter a need to parse the output of toString() method on a Date object. This method returns a string representation of the date, which can vary depending on the system locale. However, in this case, the output is "Sun Dec 12 13:45:12 CET 2010", suggesting that it's locale-independent.

Solving the Parsing Issue

To reliably parse this specific output, we can utilize SimpleDateFormat with a pattern that matches the format specified in Date#toString(). The pattern is as follows:

<code class="plaintext">EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy</code>

Code Example

Here's a code example demonstrating how to use SimpleDateFormat to parse the output of Date#toString():

<code class="java">import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class DateToStringParser {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
        String dateString = "Sun Dec 12 13:45:12 CET 2010";
        SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy");
        Date date = dateFormat.parse(dateString);
        System.out.println("Parsed Date: " + date);
    }
}</code>

Note

While this solution solves the parsing issue, it's generally considered better practice to use SimpleDateFormat#format() instead of Date#toString() to ensure consistent date formatting.

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