ParseException - Can't figure out the right pattern

Question

I have the following string: dateToParse = "Fri May 16 23:59:59 BRT 2014", and want to parse it using DateFormat:

DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, Locale.getDefault());
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/Sao_Paulo"));
cal.setTime(dateFormat.parse(dateToParse));

right now I'm trying it with pattern = "EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy", but get this exception:

java.text.ParseException: Unparseable date: "Fri May 16 23:59:59 BRT 2014" (at offset 0)

I can't figure out what's wrong with this pattern, specially at index 0... any idea what am I missing? Thanks.

[EDIT] So part of the problem was I was using Locale.getDefault(), so problably trying to parse a date in english with a dateFormat in portuguese... with the correct Locale, I'm still getting ParseException, but this time at offset 20, which means something is going wrong when parsing the timezone ('BRT', in my case)...

Meddle

Are you sure there isn't a leading space or some other character in the String you are attempting to parse. I wrote up a quick sample using the same DateFormat as you and it worked without issue – Visor

@Mena I'm editing the question, sry – Meddle

Answer 1

its probably because of the Locale.

Try changing

Locale.getDefault()

to

Locale.ENGLISH

like this

        String date_ = "Fri May 16 23:59:59 BRT 2014";
    DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
    Calendar date = Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/Sao_Paulo"));
    dateFormat.setCalendar(date);
    try {
        date.setTime(dateFormat.parse(date_));
    } catch (ParseException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

Gastrin

Ok, when using Locale.ENGLISH I get the same exception, but this time at offset 20... so I suppose I'm using the "z" pattern the wrong way, any hint on this? – Meddle

Answer 2

maybe this pattern works for you "EEE MMM d HH:mm:ss Z yyyy" if not take a look at his site http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html

Ex:

String pattern = "EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy";
        SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, Locale.getDefault());
        Calendar d = Calendar.getInstance();
        try {
            d.setTime(dateFormat.parse(String.valueOf(d)));
        } catch (ParseException e1) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block


e1.printStackTrace();
    }

Whisker

doesn't works. I've checked that page before building the pattern. thanks anyway – Meddle

Answer 3

Are you sure? The code ran fine in my machine

public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
        String date = "Fri May 16 23:59:59 BRT 2014";
        String pattern = "EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy";
        DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, Locale.getDefault());
        Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/Sao_Paulo"));
        cal.setTime(dateFormat.parse(date));


}

Aymer