import java.sql.Date;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
...
String dateString = "23/08/2003";
SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
java.util.Date d;
try {
    d = dateFormat.parse(dateString);
    dateFormat.applyPattern("yyyy-MM-dd");
    dateString = dateFormat.format(d);
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

java.sql.Date date = java.sql.Date.valueOf(dateString);

System.out.println(date);
...

17 Comments »

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1. I would recommend using the setLenient(false) method on the SimpleDateFormat object:

    String dateString = "23/08/2003";
    SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
    dateFormat.setLenient(false);
    

   This disables the use of heuristics when parsing the date, to avoid unpredictable results when the input does not exactly match the format.

   I would also recommend an extra precaution: the use of the java.text.ParsePosition.

    String dateString = "23/08/2003";
    String parseFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy";
    SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(parseFormat);
    dateFormat.setLenient(false);
    ParsePosition parsePosition = new ParsePosition(0);
    java.util.Date d;
    try {
       d = dateFormat.parse(dateString, parsePosition);
       // Now check the ParsePosition index
       if(parsePosition.getIndex() == inputFormat.length()){
          // Parsing successful
       }
       else{
          // Error occurred
       }
       ...
    }catch(Exception e){
    ...
    }
    

   ParsePosition keeps track of the current position during parsing. After parsing, you can check the parsePosition.getIndex() to be the same as the parseFormat.length(). This ensures a correct parsing of the specified date using the specified date format.

   As to to actual problem you’re faced with, I don’t know a simpler way to achieve this.

   Comment by Robert Caranica — 9 September 2003 #

2. Thank you for this tip, Robert.

   Comment by Eddy Young — 9 September 2003 #

3. I cant believe how fd up java dates are…
   NONE of these work. ALL are documented
   // java.sql.Date dow = new java.sql.Date(System.currentTimeMillis());
   // java.sql.Date dow = new java.sql.Date(103,10,28);
   // java.sql.Date dow = new java.sql.Date.valueOf(”2003-01-01″);
   // java.sql.Date.valueOf(”2003-01-01″);

   How can rational humans have made a simple task so fd up???

   Comment by kelvinkline — 28 October 2003 #

4. It May be that my use of JDBC-ODBC instead of pure JDBC means that lots of date stuff fails.
   Eddy Young’s code (above) is the only way I have managed to get a date into a sql JDBC-ODBC database. Apologies for my intemperate invective, but it took me best part of a day to find EY’s code. 29Oct03

   Comment by kelvinkline — 29 October 2003 #

5. Glad the code was of help to you. Feel free to ask any question.

   Comment by Eddy Young — 29 October 2003 #

6. Hi,

   I have a java.util.Date, while setting this date in resultset.setDate() gives an error as it takes in java.sql.Date.
   How can i convert a java.util.Date to java.sql.Date

   Comment by Heena — 6 November 2003 #

7. Please, use the code given in the article to convert the date to a java.sql.Date before trying to set it in the resultset.

   Comment by Eddy Young — 6 November 2003 #

8. A posting above claimed that four lines of code are documented but fail. They all worked for me, running on Mac OS X 10.2.8 with Java 1.4.1.

   My working code and comments follow. Paste this code into the “main()” method of any class.

   // Basil added this line, as Java does not let us
   // repetively declare the same var.
   java.sql.Date dow = null;

   dow = new java.sql.Date(System.currentTimeMillis());
   System.out.println( “dow 1: “+ dow ); // Should get today’s date.

   // This constructor of ints is deprecated but it works.
   // Note that Java’s Date class is zero-based in month count.
   // For the year, 103 is added to 1900 to get 2003.
   dow = new java.sql.Date(103,10,28);
   System.out.println( “dow 2: “+ dow ); // I get: 2003-11-28

   // Notice the “valueOf” method is static.
   // The fellow above incorrectly included a “new”.
   dow = java.sql.Date.valueOf(”2003-01-02″);
   System.out.println( “dow 3: “+ dow );

   // This next line makes no sense.
   // You are creating a java.sql.Date object, but the object
   // evaporates in the ether since you do not save a reference
   // to a variable. This code executes but does nothing useful.
   java.sql.Date.valueOf(”2003-01-03″);

   Comment by Basil Bourque — 30 December 2003 #

9. one easy way:
   convert sql Date to long type, and create util date from it:

   sDate is java.sql.date

   java.util.Date uDate = new java.util.Date(sDate.getTime()));

   Comment by hwu — 5 January 2004 #

10. halo, I would like to ask that after I use the valueOf, Can I use the date I get Form valueOF to do the comparison.. How?

    Comment by johnangxun — 25 October 2004 #

11. Yes, you can. Please refer to the Date class javadoc; it details the different comparison methods (equals, after, etc.)

    Comment by Eddy Young — 25 October 2004 #

12. Hi All,
    I have a similar problem. i am using Calendar to get the date that is entered by the user in the format yyyy-MM-dd. But i am using the access database to store this. In access it accepts as dd-MON-yyyy.

    How do i convert the format suitable to access database.

    PLease provide a solution ASAP

    Comment by Pradeep — 26 October 2004 #

13. Hi all.
    i have a date in the form of a string .the format is 15-05-2005 5:55:55.
    Can any one tell how i can convert it to a sql.Date.

    Comment by Aasif — 30 May 2006 #

14. Aasif,

    My example shows you exactly how to do that.

    Rgds,
    Eddy

    Comment by Eddy — 30 May 2006 #

15. […] Hopefully, this will clear the apparent difficulty that beginners face when dealing with date formatting in Java. […]

    Pingback by Java and friends » Parsing Dates from String Values — 22 July 2006 #

16. A very good example of how NOT to handle exceptions!

    Comment by G — 24 July 2006 #

17. The main objective of this post is to show how to convert a java.util.Date to a java.sql.Date and does not dwelve deeply into exception handling.

    For my other posts on exception handling, see:

    Exception Handling Best Practice
    EJB Exception Handling
    Exception Handling or Result Code

    Comment by Eddy — 25 July 2006 #

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