Java SimpleDateFormat Tester

The SimpleDateFormat class is used to format instances of the Date class as strings using a pattern.

The SimpleDateFormat class is now a legacy class; the DateTimeFormatter is a more up to date alternative as part of the new java.time API.

Pattern

Locale

Empty input

Java version: 1.8.0_252

Common Issues

It is important to remember that the SimpleDateFormat class is not thread safe. It will produce unpredictable results if multiple threads try to use the same instance without locking.
Normally use lower case "y" for the year. Upper case "Y" is the week year and will normally be the same as they year but can differ around new year.
L vs M: LLLL outputs the stand alone form of the month. This is identical to MMMM in English but in languages such as Finnish, MMMM varies depending on whether a day is is included while LLLL always outputs the month in the standard form.

Patterns

Letter	Meaning	Notes
Date Formatting
y	Year	yy	two digit year
yyyy	four digit year
M	Month	M	one or two digit month
MM	two digit month
MMM	abbreviated month name
MMMM	full month name
d	Date	d	one or two digit date
dd	two digit date
G	Era	G	BC/AD
E	Day of Week Name	E	abbreviated day name
EEEE	full day name
Time
H	Hour (0-23)	H	one or two digit hour
HH	two digit hour
h	Hour (1-12)
k	Hour (1-24)
K	Hour (0-11)
m	Minute	m	one or two digit minute
mm	two digit minute
s	Second	s	one or two digit second
ss	two digit second
S	Millisecond	SSS	three digit milliseconds
a	am/pm Marker	a	AM/PM
Time Zone
z	Time Zone Name	z	abbreviated time zone name
zzzz	full time zone name
Z	Time Zone Offset	Z	offset in hours and minutes
X	ISO Time Zone Offset	X	two digit offset
XX	four digit offset
XXX	four digit offset with colon
ISO Week Date
Y	Week year
w	Week in year	e.g. 15th week of the year
u	Week day number	e.g. 3rd day of the week
Additional Date Formatting
W	Week in Month	e.g. second week of month
D	Day in Year	e.g. 145th day of year
F	Day of Week in Month	e.g. third Monday of the month
L	Standalone Month in Year	LLLL	full month name

Letter

Meaning

Notes

Date Formatting

Year

two digit year

yyyy

four digit year

Month

one or two digit month

two digit month

MMM

abbreviated month name

MMMM

full month name

Date

one or two digit date

two digit date

Era

BC/AD

Day of Week Name

abbreviated day name

EEEE

full day name

Time

Hour (0-23)

one or two digit hour

two digit hour

Hour (1-12)

Hour (1-24)

Hour (0-11)

Minute

one or two digit minute

two digit minute

Second

one or two digit second

two digit second

Millisecond

SSS

three digit milliseconds

am/pm Marker

AM/PM

Time Zone

Time Zone Name

abbreviated time zone name

zzzz

full time zone name

Time Zone Offset

offset in hours and minutes

ISO Time Zone Offset

two digit offset

four digit offset

XXX

four digit offset with colon

ISO Week Date

Week year

Week in year

e.g. 15th week of the year

Week day number

e.g. 3rd day of the week

Additional Date Formatting

Week in Month

e.g. second week of month

Day in Year

e.g. 145th day of year

Day of Week in Month

e.g. third Monday of the month

Standalone Month in Year

LLLL

full month name