Convert Java Date from one format to another without converting it into string

Question

I am trying to get my current system date and am formatting it into Etc/UTC and then into this "dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm z" format. The problem is this that the format function after formatting the date returns a string instead of date. Here is the code spinet below

    final Date currentDate = new Date();
    final SimpleDateFormat dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm z");
    dateFormatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("Etc/UTC"));
    String finalDateTime=  dateFormatter.format(currentDate);
    System.out.println(finalDateTime); 

Is there any alternative solution which allows me to format the date by keeping me within this date object because I have researched every date library after java 8 and before java 8, it seems like if I want to format any type of date or dateTime, I have to use a formatter which converts the given date into string.

Any Alternative solutions or it is not possible?

Answer 1

Date represents a single point in time. That's it, nothing more, nothing less. It does not contain any information about time zones.

Wed Jun 06 12:38:15 BST 2018 is the same Date (instant) as Wed Jun 06 11:38:15 GMT 2018 , just in a different time zone. It's like the words "humans" and "homo sapians". They refer to the same species, they are just kind of in a different "format".

So you don't need to change the date in any way. You just need to format it differently. This is why formatters return String s. Only String s can represent one particular format of a date.