See this code:
public static void main(String [] args){
String dateString = "2015-07-16 17:07:21";
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
Date date;
try {
date = sdf.parse(dateString);
} catch (ParseException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
return;
}
System.out.println(date); // Displays date in it's default format Jul 16 17:00:21 IST 2015
System.out.println(dateString.equals(date)); // Returns false since 'Jul 16 17:00:21 IST 2015' is not equal to dateString (2015-07-16 17:07:21)
}
Date class always stores date in its default format. The SimpleDateFormat helps to format date using its object. It doesn't make any changes to the date class object. Rather it converts the Date class to User defined format which doesn't have any effect on the Date class object. I guess it is clear.
