Parse String to Date with Different Format in Java

tl;dr

LocalDate.parse( 
    "19/05/2009" , 
    DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "dd/MM/uuuu" ) 
)

Details

The other Answers with java.util.Date, java.sql.Date, and SimpleDateFormat are now outdated.

LocalDate

The modern way to do date-time is work with the java.time classes, specifically LocalDate. The LocalDate class represents a date-only value without time-of-day and without time zone.

DateTimeFormatter

To parse, or generate, a String representing a date-time value, use the DateTimeFormatter class.

DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "dd/MM/uuuu" );
LocalDate ld = LocalDate.parse( "19/05/2009" , f );

Do not conflate a date-time object with a String representing its value. A date-time object has no format, while a String does. A date-time object, such as LocalDate, can generate a String to represent its internal value, but the date-time object and the String are separate distinct objects.

You can specify any custom format to generate a String. Or let java.time do the work of automatically localizing.

DateTimeFormatter f = 
    DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate( FormatStyle.FULL )
                     .withLocale( Locale.CANADA_FRENCH ) ;
String output = ld.format( f );

Dump to console.

System.out.println( "ld: " + ld + " | output: " + output );

ld: 2009-05-19 | output: mardi 19 mai 2009

See in action in IdeOne.com.

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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.

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

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

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.

Where to obtain the java.time classes?

• Java SE 8, Java SE 9, and later
  • Built-in.
  • Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
  • Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
• Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
  • Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
• Android
  • Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
  • For earlier Android (<26), the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….

The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.

Take a look at SimpleDateFormat. The code goes something like this:

SimpleDateFormat fromUser = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
SimpleDateFormat myFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");

try {

    String reformattedStr = myFormat.format(fromUser.parse(inputString));
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Use the SimpleDateFormat class:

private Date parseDate(String date, String format) throws ParseException
{
    SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat(format);
    return formatter.parse(date);
}

Usage:

Date date = parseDate("19/05/2009", "dd/MM/yyyy");

For efficiency, you would want to store your formatters in a hashmap. The hashmap is a static member of your util class.

private static Map<String, SimpleDateFormat> hashFormatters = new HashMap<String, SimpleDateFormat>();

public static Date parseDate(String date, String format) throws ParseException
{
    SimpleDateFormat formatter = hashFormatters.get(format);

    if (formatter == null)
    {
        formatter = new SimpleDateFormat(format);
        hashFormatters.put(format, formatter);
    }

    return formatter.parse(date);
}