Convert String to Calendar Object in Java

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
cal.setTime(sdf.parse("Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011"));// all done

note: set Locale according to your environment/requirement

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See Also

• Javadoc

tl;dr

The modern approach uses the java.time classes.

YearMonth.from(
    ZonedDateTime.parse( 
        "Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011" , 
        DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "E MMM d HH:mm:ss z uuuu" )
     )
).toString()

2011-03

Avoid legacy date-time classes

The modern way is with java.time classes. The old date-time classes such as Calendar have proven to be poorly-designed, confusing, and troublesome.

Define a custom formatter to match your string input.

String input = "Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011";
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "E MMM d HH:mm:ss z uuuu" );

Parse as a ZonedDateTime.

ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.parse( input , f );

You are interested in the year and month. The java.time classes include YearMonth class for that purpose.

YearMonth ym = YearMonth.from( zdt );

You can interrogate for the year and month numbers if needed.

int year = ym.getYear();
int month = ym.getMonthValue();

But the toString method generates a string in standard ISO 8601 format.

String output = ym.toString();

Put this all together.

String input = "Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011";
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "E MMM d HH:mm:ss z uuuu" );
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.parse( input , f );
YearMonth ym = YearMonth.from( zdt );
int year = ym.getYear();
int month = ym.getMonthValue();

Dump to console.

System.out.println( "input: " + input );
System.out.println( "zdt: " + zdt );
System.out.println( "ym: " + ym );

input: Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011

zdt: 2011-03-14T16:02:37Z[GMT]

ym: 2011-03

Live code

See this code running in IdeOne.com.

Conversion

If you must have a Calendar object, you can convert to a GregorianCalendar using new methods added to the old classes.

GregorianCalendar gc = GregorianCalendar.from( zdt );

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About java.time

The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.

To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.

The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.

You may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. Use a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later. No need for strings, no need for java.sql.* classes. Hibernate 5 & JPA 2.2 support java.time.

Where to obtain the java.time classes?

• Java SE 8, Java SE 9, Java SE 10, Java SE 11, and later - Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
  • Java 9 brought some minor features and fixes.
• Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
  • Most of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
• Android
  • Later versions of Android (26+) bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
  • For earlier Android (<26), the process of API desugaring brings a subset of the java.time functionality not originally built into Android.
    • If the desugaring does not offer what you need, the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above) to Android. See How to use ThreeTenABP….

No new Calendar needs to be created, SimpleDateFormat already uses a Calendar underneath.

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy", Locale.EN_US);
Date date = sdf.parse("Mon Mar 14 16:02:37 GMT 2011"));// all done
Calendar cal = sdf.getCalendar();

(I can't comment yet, that's why I created a new answer)

Well, I think it would be a bad idea to replicate the code which is already present in classes like SimpleDateFormat.

On the other hand, personally I'd suggest avoiding Calendar and Date entirely if you can, and using Joda Time instead, as a far better designed date and time API. For example, you need to be aware that SimpleDateFormat is not thread-safe, so you either need thread-locals, synchronization, or a new instance each time you use it. Joda parsers and formatters are thread-safe.