Generic way to parse dates in Java

Question

What is the best way to parse dates in Java ? Is there any built in way to parse strings such as \"18 Jul 2011\" , \"Jul 18, 2011\", \"18-07-2011\", \"2011-07-18\" without k

Answer 1

There's nothing like that in the standard API library. Natty is a library that attempts this, but you should be aware that this can only ever be a "best effort" affair, as things like 2/1/2012 are simply ambiguous: without metainformation about the format, it's impossible to decide whether it's Feburary 1st or January 2nd.