How to check if a string is date?

Question

I am having string like

\"11-04-2015 22:01:13:053\" or \"32476347656435\"

How can I check if string is Date?
Checking String if it is n

Answer 1

java.time

It’s about time someone provides the modern answer. The SimpleDateFormat class mentioned in a couple of the other answers is notoriously troublesome and fortunately now long outdated. Instead the modern solution uses java.time, the modern Java date and time API.

    DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd-MM-uuuu HH:mm:ss:SSS");

    String stringToTest = "11-04-2015 22:01:13:053";

    try {
        LocalDateTime dateTime = LocalDateTime.parse(stringToTest, formatter);
        System.out.println("The string is a date and time: " + dateTime);
    } catch (DateTimeParseException dtpe) {
        System.out.println("The string is not a date and time: " + dtpe.getMessage());
    }

Output from this snippet is:

The string is a date and time: 2015-04-11T22:01:13.053

Suppose that instead the string was defined as:

    String stringToTest = "32476347656435";

Now the output is:

The string is not a date and time: Text '32476347656435' could not be parsed at index 2

Link: Oracle tutorial: Date Time explaining how to use java.time.