SimpleDateFormat and locale based format string

Question

Hi,

I'm trying to format a date in Java in different ways based on the given locale. For instance I want English users to see "Nov 1, 2009" (formatted by "MMM d, yyyy") and Norwegian users to see "1. nov. 2009" ("d. MMM. yyyy").

The month part works OK if I add the locale to the SimpleDateFormat constructor, but what about the rest?

I was hoping I could add format strings paired with locales to SimpleDateFormat, but I can't find any way to do this. Is it possible or do I need to let my code check the locale and add the corresponding format string?

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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));
  }
}

Answer 3

DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT) should work.