Having issues formatting a specific Date/Time format

Question

I'm having issues formatting the following date/time:

2013-01-10T17:04:24.3787635-02:00

Now, I understand 2013-01-10 is the date (obviously).

17:04:24.3787635 probably time, though I have no idea what the numbers after the dot mean.

-02:00 I assume it's the time zone (GMT).

How can I parse this in java? (maybe using JodaTime).

Answer 1

Try using this pattern:

"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX"

Which can parse date in this format:

2001-07-04T12:08:56.235-07:00

Although, 3787635 in your source string is troublesome. It doesn't look like milliseconds.

Take a look at java.text.SimpleDateFormat for additional details on patterns.

You can also try DatatypeConverter.parseDateTime which returns a java.util.Calendar object.

DatatypeConverter.parseDateTime("2013-01-10T17:04:24.3787635-02:00").getTime()

The above statement executes without any errors.

Answer 2

You could use JodaTime to parse this date:

String time = "2013-01-10T17:04:24.3787635-02:00";
DateTimeFormatter df = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSSSSSZ");
DateTime dateTime = df.parseDateTime(time);

The numbers after the dot ( . ) are the fractions of seconds denoted by S in JodaTime's DateTimeFormat . Z represents the timezone pattern.

Answer 3

The format of your time string is the ISO8601 format. The JodaTime class ISODateTimeFormat will support that format directly. You will lose any accuracy beyond millisecond, however.

String time = "2013-01-10T17:04:24.3787635-02:00";
DateTime dateTime = ISODateTimeFormat.dateTime().parseDateTime(time);

Answer 4

This format can be parsed correctly only with javax.xml.XMLGregorianCalendar. You cannot use SimpleDateFormat because it accepts SSS as number of milliseconds, not as fractional part of a second.

    String s = "2013-01-10T17:04:24.3787635-02:00";
    DatatypeFactory dtf = DatatypeFactory.newInstance();
    Date date = dtf.newXMLGregorianCalendar(s).toGregorianCalendar().getTime();