SimpleDateFormat and locale based format string

Use the style + locale: DateFormat.getDateInstance(int style, Locale locale)

Check http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/text/DateFormat.html

Run the following example to see the differences:

import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Locale;

public class DateFormatDemoSO {
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    int style = DateFormat.MEDIUM;
    //Also try with style = DateFormat.FULL and DateFormat.SHORT
    Date date = new Date();
    DateFormat df;
    df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(style, Locale.UK);
    System.out.println("United Kingdom: " + df.format(date));
    df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(style, Locale.US);
    System.out.println("USA: " + df.format(date));   
    df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(style, Locale.FRANCE);
    System.out.println("France: " + df.format(date));
    df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(style, Locale.ITALY);
    System.out.println("Italy: " + df.format(date));
    df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(style, Locale.JAPAN);
    System.out.println("Japan: " + df.format(date));
  }
}

Output:

United Kingdom: 25-Sep-2017
USA: Sep 25, 2017
France: 25 sept. 2017
Italy: 25-set-2017
Japan: 2017/09/25

Use DateFormat.getDateInstance(int style, Locale locale) instead of creating your own patterns with SimpleDateFormat.


SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE dd MMM yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
String formatted = dateFormat.format(the_date_you_want_here);