TimeZone validation in Java

Question

I have a string, I need to check whether it is a standard time zone identifier or not. I am not sure which method I need to use.

String timeZoneToCheck = \"UTC\"         


        

Answer 1

private boolean isValidTimeZone(final String timeZone) {
    final String DEFAULT_GMT_TIMEZONE = "GMT";
    if (timeZone.equals(DEFAULT_GMT_TIMEZONE)) {
        return true;
    } else {
        // if custom time zone is invalid,
        // time zone id returned is always "GMT" by default
        String id = TimeZone.getTimeZone(timeZone).getID();
        if (!id.equals(DEFAULT_GMT_TIMEZONE)) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

The method returns true for the following:

assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("JST"));
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("UTC"));
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT"));
// GMT+00:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT+0"));
// GMT-00:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT-0"));
// GMT+09:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT+9:00"));
// GMT+10:30
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT+10:30"));
// GMT-04:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT-0400"));
// GMT+08:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT+8"));
// GMT-13:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT-13"));
// GMT-13:59
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT+13:59"));
// NOTE: valid time zone IDs (see TimeZone.getAvailableIDs())
// GMT-08:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("America/Los_Angeles"));
// GMT+09:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("Japan"));
// GMT+01:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("Europe/Berlin"));
// GMT+04:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("Europe/Moscow"));
// GMT+08:00
assertTrue(this.isValidTimeZone("Asia/Singapore"));

...And false with the following timezones:

assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("JPY"));
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("USD"));
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("UTC+8"));
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("UTC+09:00"));
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("+09:00"));
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("-08:00"));
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("-1"));
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT+10:-30"));
// hours is 0-23 only
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT+24:00"));
// minutes 00-59 only
assertFalse(this.isValidTimeZone("GMT+13:60"));