Formatting LocalDate in Java: What's the pattern for "March 26 2020"

Question

I can't seem to come up with a pattern for "March 26 2020" (no comma). Can someone help? I've tried DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMMM dd yyyy") and DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMM dd yyyy"). Any help would be appreciated!

Minimal reproducible example:

    String strDate = "March 26 2020";
    DateTimeFormatter dtf = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMMM dd uuuu");
    LocalDate date = LocalDate.parse(strDate, dtf);
    System.out.println(date);

On my computer this throws

Exception in thread "main" java.time.format.DateTimeParseException: Text 'March 26 2020' could not be parsed at index 0

Expected output was

2020-03-26

With MMM in the format pattern instead the exception is the same.

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 10 '20 at 16:09

5

Use the pattern, MMMM dd uuuu with Locale.ENGLISH.

Demo:

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

class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String strDate = "March 26 2020";
        DateTimeFormatter dtf = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMMM dd uuuu", Locale.ENGLISH);
        LocalDate date = LocalDate.parse(strDate, dtf);
        System.out.println(date);
    }
}

Output:

2020-03-26

answered Dec 10 '20 at 16:09

Arvind Kumar Avinash

62,771
5
54
92

2

`Locale.ENGLISH` is a spot on! – Nikolas Charalambidis Dec 10 '20 at 16:14
1

I think `Locale.US` works as well. `Locale.ROOT`, interestingly, does not. – MC Emperor Dec 10 '20 at 16:20
1

Interesting indeed, @MCEmperor, thanks. On my Java 11 `Locale.ROOT` produces and expects `Mar 26 2020`. Might seem like a bug to me, though there might be some reason that I can’t understand. – Ole V.V. Dec 10 '20 at 16:41

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 10 '20 at 16:38

0

Try this

DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMMM' 'dd' 'yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH)

Worked for me just fine, Output:

December 10 2020

answered Dec 10 '20 at 16:38

Michael Gantman

5,975
1
17
34

1

You do not need to specify the space between `MMMM` and `dd` or between `dd` and `yyyy` explicitly using `' '`. You can simply put the space without using single quotes. – Arvind Kumar Avinash Dec 10 '20 at 16:44
I've seen sometimes it could make a difference – Michael Gantman Dec 10 '20 at 17:20
@MichaelGantman No, for a space never. Some do recommend the single quotes anyway, it’s probably a matter of taste. – Ole V.V. Dec 10 '20 at 18:49

Formatting LocalDate in Java: What's the pattern for "March 26 2020"

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