Few Java examples show you how to convert a String to the new Java 8 Date API – java.time.LocalDate

	DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("d/MM/yyyy");
	String date = "16/08/2016";
	//convert String to LocalDate
	LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.parse(date, formatter);

1. String = 2016-08-16

If the String is formatted like ISO_LOCAL_DATE, you can parse the String directly, no need conversion.

package com.mkyong.java8.date;
import java.time.LocalDate;
public class TestNewDate1 {
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        String date = "2016-08-16";
		//default, ISO_LOCAL_DATE
        LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.parse(date);
        System.out.println(localDate);

Output

2016-08-16

2. String = 16-Aug-2016

package com.mkyong.java8.date;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
public class TestNewDate2 {
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("d-MMM-yyyy");
		String date = "16-Aug-2016";
        LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.parse(date, formatter);
        System.out.println(localDate);  //default, print ISO_LOCAL_DATE
        System.out.println(formatter.format(localDate));

Output

2016-08-16
16-Aug-2016

3. String = 16/08/2016

package com.mkyong.java8.date;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
public class TestNewDate3 {
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("d/MM/yyyy");
        String date = "16/08/2016";
        LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.parse(date, formatter);
        System.out.println(localDate);
        System.out.println(formatter.format(localDate));

Output

2016-08-16
16/08/2016

4. String = Tue, Aug 16 2016

package com.mkyong.java8.date;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
public class TestNewDate4 {
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("E, MMM d yyyy");
        String date = "Tue, Aug 16 2016";
        LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.parse(date, formatter);
        System.out.println(localDate);
        System.out.println(formatter.format(localDate));

Output

2016-08-16
Tue, Aug 16 2016

5. String = Tuesday, Aug 16, 2016 12:10:56 PM

This example convert a String to java.time.LocalDateTime

package com.mkyong.java8.date;
package com.mkyong.pageview;
import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
public class TestNewDate5 {
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("EEEE, MMM d, yyyy HH:mm:ss a");
        String date = "Tuesday, Aug 16, 2016 12:10:56 PM";
        LocalDateTime localDateTime = LocalDateTime.parse(date, formatter);
        System.out.println(localDateTime);
        System.out.println(formatter.format(localDateTime));

Output

2016-08-16T12:10:56
Tuesday, Aug 16, 2016 12:10:56 PM

6. String = 2016-08-16T15:23:01Z

The ‘Z’ suffix means UTC, you can convert into a java.time.instant directly, then display it with a time zone.

package com.mkyong.java8.date;
import java.time.*;
public class TestNewDate6 {
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        String dateInString = "2016-08-16T15:23:01Z";
        Instant instant = Instant.parse(dateInString);
        System.out.println("Instant : " + instant);
        //get date time only
        LocalDateTime result = LocalDateTime.ofInstant(instant, ZoneId.of(ZoneOffset.UTC.getId()));
        //get localdate
        System.out.println("LocalDate : " + result.toLocalDate());
        //get date time + timezone
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime = instant.atZone(ZoneId.of("Asia/Tokyo"));
        System.out.println(zonedDateTime);
        //get date time + timezone
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime2 = instant.atZone(ZoneId.of("Europe/Athens"));
        System.out.println(zonedDateTime2);

Output

Instant : 2016-08-16T15:23:01Z
LocalDate : 2016-08-16
2016-08-17T00:23:01+09:00[Asia/Tokyo]
2016-08-16T18:23:01+03:00[Europe/Athens]

7. String = 2016-08-16T10:15:30+08:00

String -> ZonedDateTime -> LocalDate

package com.mkyong.java8.date;
import java.time.*;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
public class TestNewDate7 {
    public static void main(String[] argv) {
        String date = "2016-08-16T10:15:30+08:00";
        ZonedDateTime result = ZonedDateTime.parse(date, DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME);
        System.out.println("ZonedDateTime : " + result);
        System.out.println("TimeZone : " + result.getZone());
        LocalDate localDate = result.toLocalDate();
        System.out.println("LocalDate : " + localDate);

Output

ZonedDateTime : 2016-08-16T10:15:30+08:00
TimeZone : +08:00
LocalDate : 2016-08-16

References

1. DateTimeFormatter JavaDoc
2. Classic SimpleDateFormat JavaDoc
3. Java – How to convert String to Date
4. Stackoverflow : simpledateformat parsing date with ‘Z’ literal
5. Wikipedia : ISO 8601
6. GMT VS UTC
7. What is a Time Zone?