How to Format LocalDate in Java
Learn to format a Java LocalDate instance to String using inbuilt patterns as well as custom patterns. The default format pattern is ‘yyyy-MM-dd’.
1. Format LocalDate with Inbuilt Patterns
1.1. Default Pattern [yyyy-MM-dd]
If we use the LocalDate.toString() method, then it formats the date in the default format, which is yyyy-MM-dd .
- The default pattern is referenced in DateTimeFormatter.ISO_LOCAL_DATE.
- DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE also produces the same result.
LocalDate today = LocalDate.now(); System.out.println(today.toString()); //2019-04-03The FormatStyle is an immutable and thread-safe enumeration of the style of ‘localized’ date formatters. Based on the Locale, each constant may output a different string.
It has 4 constants for formatting a date:
- FULL – Thursday, 17 February, 2022
- LONG – 17 February 2022
- MEDIUM – 17/02/22
- SHORT – 4/3/19
LocalDate today = LocalDate.now(); String formattedDate = today.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.LONG)); //17 February 2022 formattedDate = today.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.MEDIUM)); //17-Feb-2022 formattedDate = today.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.SHORT)); //17/02/22 formattedDate = today.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.FULL)); //Thursday, 17 February, 20222. Format LocalDate with Custom Patterns
If we have to format the LocalDate instance in a date pattern that is not available inbuilt, we can define our own pattern using LocalDate.format(DateTimeFormatter) method. It accepts a DateTimeFormatter instance that has a list of predefined formats as well as can create a custom format such as ‘dd/MM/yyyy’.
LocalDate today = LocalDate.now(); DateTimeFormatter dateTimeFormatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd/MM/yyyy"); String formattedDate = today.format(dateTimeFormatter); //17-02-2022