JAVA - How to check the correct date format format?

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• How to convert String to Date without knowing the format? 9 answers

I am facing issue related to date format pattern. Suppose user gives wrong input like this '200000-05-16' and I have format like this mm/dd/yyyy. I want to check format in java class the input date is wrong.

How is it possible to do in java?

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Here is two solutions. I recommend the second one (the mkyong tutorial).

Solution 1 (Regexp)

String datePattern = "\\d{2}-\\d{2}-\\d{4}";

String date1 = "200000-05-16";
String date2 = "05-16-2000";

Boolean isDate1 = date1.matches(datePattern);
Boolean isDate2 = date2.matches(datePattern);

System.out.println(isDate1);
System.out.println(isDate2);

Output :

false
true

The pattern is not the better one because you could pass "99" as a month or a day and it will be ok. Please check this post for a good pattern : Regex to validate date format dd/mm/yyyy

Solution 2 (SimpleDateFormat)

This solution take a SimpleDateFormat to check if it is valid or not. Please check this link for a complete and great solution : http://www.mkyong.com/java/how-to-check-if-date-is-valid-in-java/