How Can I Display a Java `java.util.Date` in a Specific Format While Maintaining Date Object Integrity for Sorting?

Displaying Java.util.Date in a Specific Format with Parse Requirement

While formatting dates in Java is straightforward, the need to parse and sort dates as Dates rather than Strings can pose a challenge. This article addresses this scenario and provides a solution.

The Problem:

Consider the following code:

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
System.out.println(dateFormat.parse("31/05/2011"));

This code attempts to parse the date string "31/05/2011" into a Date object. However, the output is in the format:

Tue May 31 00:00:00 SGT 2011

instead of the desired format:

31/05/2011

The Solution:

The key to resolving this issue is to use the format method on the SimpleDateFormat instance. Here's how:

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
System.out.println(dateFormat.format(dateFormat.parse("31/05/2011")));

By calling format on the parsed Date object, we apply the desired date format "dd/MM/yyyy" to the resulting Date object and obtain the desired output:

31/05/2011

This approach allows us to both parse dates as Dates for sorting and format them as Strings in a specific format.

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