[Java] Format date with locale

In Java, you may need to format a date using a particular pattern or locale. You can easily do it with SimpleDateFormat:

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, locale);

Date date = Calendar.getInstance().getTime();

sdf.format(date); 

This code formats the current date using the given pattern and locale.



Patterns are well defined in the SimpleDateFormat class specification linked above and should be something like:

Date and Time Pattern	Result
"yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z"	2001.07.04 AD at 12:08:56 PDT
"EEE, MMM d, ''yy"	Wed, Jul 4, '01
"h:mm a"	12:08 PM
"hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz"	12 o'clock PM, Pacific Daylight Time
"K:mm a, z"	0:08 PM, PDT
"yyyyy.MMMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa"	02001.July.04 AD 12:08 PM
"EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z"	Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:08:56 -0700
"yyMMddHHmmssZ"	010704120856-0700

While locale should be something like: "Locale.Italian"