Formatting Timestamps in Java

Question

Is there a way to format a UTC time into any arbitrary string format I want in java? Basically I was thinking of having some class take the timestamp and I pass it is strin

Answer 1

The java.text.SimpleDateFormat class provides formatting and parsing for dates in a locale-sensitive manner.

The javadoc header for SimpleDateFormat is a good source of detailed information. There is also a Java Tutorial with example usages.

Answer 2

Date instances are insufficient for some purposes.

Use Joda Time instead.

Joda time integrates with Hibernate and other databases.

Answer 3

One gotcha to be aware of is that SimpleDateFormat is NOT thread-safe. Do not put it in a static field and use it from multiple threads concurrently.

Answer 4

The DateFormat class or SimpleDateFormat should get you there. For example, http://www.epochconverter.com/ lists the following example to convert a epoch time to human readable timestamp with Java:

String date = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss").format(new java.util.Date (epoch*1000));