Date and time formatting depending on locale

Question

I\'m new to both Java and Android development so this might be a stupid question, but I\'ve been searching for days now and can\'t find a solution:

I try to output a

Answer 1

Use getBestDateTimePattern()

DateFormat.getBestDateTimePattern() from android.text.format package creates the best possible date and time according to the locale set by the user.

For example: the skeleton EEEE, MMM d, YYYY, jj:mm returns localized date and time as follows.

Locale English (India):            Monday 9 Sep 2019, 9:33 PM
Locale English (United States):    Monday, Sep 9, 2019, 9:33 PM
Locale español (Estados Unidos):   lunes, 9 de sep. de 2019 9:33 PM
Locale español (México):           lunes, 9 de sep de 2019 21:33
Locale français (France):          lundi 9 sept. 2019 à 21:33
Locale português (Brasil):         segunda-feira, 9 de set de 2019 21:33

and so on for different locales. It also respects the 12 hour or 24 hour time format of the locale.

For customizing your own skeleton refer to UTS #35 pattern on unicode.org.

Sample Code

Here's the tested sample code in Kotlin:

val skeleton = DateFormat.getBestDateTimePattern(Locale.getDefault(), "EEEE, MMM d, YYYY, jj:mm")
val formatter = SimpleDateFormat(skeleton, Locale.getDefault()).apply {
    timeZone = TimeZone.getDefault()
    applyLocalizedPattern(skeleton)
}
val dateTimeText = formatter.format(calendar.time)
Log.d("YourClass", "Locale ${Locale.getDefault().displayName}: $dateTimeText")

Instead of Calendar class, you can also use ZonedDateTime. Just convert it to Date object and give it to format(). For example: Date(zonedDateTime.toInstant().toEpochMilli())

Hope that helps.