Java Localdate format() method with yyyy-MM-dd pattern 

In this tutorial, we will cover Java LocalDate format method to convert LocalDate to String with default(yyyy-MM-dd) pattern, user-defined patterns, library defined patterns, and custom patterns provided by java library.

Here is the brief intro about what is LocalDate class in java.

LocalDate

1. LocalDate class is immutable and thread-safe.
2. This is a value-based class thus use of equals method is recommended for comparisons.
3. LocalDate provides date format as YYYY-MM-dd.
4. The LocalDate class does not have time or timezone data, So LocalDate is preferable for Birthday, National Holiday representation.

LocalDate format() method

Method Declaration: 

public String format(DateTimeFormatter formatter)

This method formats this date using the specified formatter. This date will be passed to the formatter to produce the date to string type.

Specified by:

the format method is present in interface ChronoLocalDate.

Parameters:

formatter - the formatter to use, which should be not null.

Returns:

the formatted date string, which will be not null.

Throws:

DateTimeException - if an error occurs during printing.

LocalDate format() method Examples:

1. Default Pattern 

If we use the LocalDate.now() method to create LocalDate Instance and we print it.thie will print date in default format which is yyyy-MM-dd.

If we use LocalDate.toString() method that will show us date object in string format with default pattern which is yyyy-MM-dd.

Example:

 import java.time.LocalDate;

 public class LocalDateFormatExample1 {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
   LocalDate currentDate = LocalDate.now();
   System.out.println("Using now() : " + currentDate);// 2020-06-27
   // Prints format in yyyy-MM-dd format by default.

   // The output will be in the ISO-8601 format
   // in string with pattern yyyy-MM-dd
   System.out.println("Using toString() :" + currentDate.toString());
 }
}

Output:

Using now() : 2020-06-27
Using toString() :2020-06-27

2. Custom Pattern

To format the LocalDate instance to string in any other patterns, we must use LocalDate.format(DateTimeFormatter) method passing formatter value.

2.1 User-Defined Pattern Example

If we want to convert our date in our own specified format we can define our own pattern and use it.

Example:

 import java.time.LocalDate;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.Locale;

 public class LocalDateFormatExample2 {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
   // Prints date in default format yyyy-MM-dd
   LocalDate now = LocalDate.now();
   System.out.println("Date with pattern yyyy-MM-dd :  " + now);

   // Prints date in MMM-dd-yyyy format
   String formattedDate1 = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMM-dd-yyyy"));
   System.out.println("Date with pattern MMM-dd-yyyy :  " + formattedDate1); // prints Jun-27-2020

   // Prints date in dd MMM yyyy format
   String formattedDate2 = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd MMM yyyy"));
   System.out.println("Date with pattern dd MMM yyyy :  " + formattedDate2); // prints 27 Jun 2020

   // Prints date in YYYY, dd MMM format with default locale
   String formattedDate3 = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy, dd MMM", Locale.getDefault()));
   System.out.println("Date with pattern yyyy, dd MMM with Locale Default :  " + formattedDate3); // prints 2020, 27
  }
 }

Output:

Date with pattern yyyy-MM-dd :  2020-06-27
Date with pattern MMM-dd-yyyy :  Jun-27-2020
Date with pattern dd MMM yyyy :  27 Jun 2020
Date with pattern yyyy, dd MMM with Locale Default :  2020, 27 Jun

2.2 Library Defined Pattern Example

Here in this DateTimeFormatter have Enum Constants which we can use if suits best for our use-case.

Example:

 import java.time.LocalDate;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;

 public class LocalDateFormatExample3 {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
   LocalDate now = LocalDate.now();
   // The ISO date formatter that formats or parses a date without an
   // offset, such as '20111203'
   // Prints date in yyyymmdd format
   String formattedDate1 = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.BASIC_ISO_DATE);
   System.out.println("BASIC_ISO_FORMAT : " + formattedDate1);

   // The ISO date formatter that formats or parses a date with the
   // offset if available, such as '2011-12-03' or '2011-12-03+01:00'.
   // Prints date in default pattern yyyy-mm-dd format
   String formattedDate2 = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE);
   System.out.println("ISO_DATE : " + formattedDate2);

   // The ISO date formatter that formats or parses a date without an
   // offset, such as '2011-12-03'
   // Prints date in default pattern yyyy-mm-dd format
   String formattedDate3 = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_LOCAL_DATE);
   System.out.println("ISO_LOCAL_DATE : " + formattedDate3);

   // The ISO date formatter that formats or parses the week-based date
   // without an offset, such as '2012-W48-6'
   // Prints date in year-weeknumber-monthnumber format
   String formattedDate4 = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_WEEK_DATE);
   System.out.println("ISO_WEEK_DATE : " + formattedDate4);

   // The ISO date formatter that formats or parses the ordinal date
   // without an offset, such as '2012-337'
   // Prints date in year-dayofyear format
   String formattedDate5 = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_ORDINAL_DATE);
   System.out.println("ISO_ORDINAL_DATE : " + formattedDate5);
  }
 }

Output:

BASIC_ISO_FORMAT : 20200627
ISO_DATE : 2020-06-27
ISO_LOCAL_DATE : 2020-06-27
ISO_WEEK_DATE : 2020-W26-6
ISO_ORDINAL_DATE : 2020-179

2.3 Custom Defined Pattern Example

Java Library has also provided FormatStyle Enum which also has Constants defined which are good to use for our normal use-cases. DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle) method supports some most used date patterns which we can use directly in our projects for most of the cases.

Example:

 import java.time.LocalDate;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.time.format.FormatStyle;

 public class LocalDateFormatExample4 {
  public static void main(String[] args) {

   LocalDate currentDate = LocalDate.now();

   // Prints date as 6/27/20
   String formattedDateShort = currentDate.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.SHORT));
   System.out.println("SHORT Format : " + formattedDateShort);

   // Prints date as Jun 27, 2020
   String formattedDateMedium = currentDate.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.MEDIUM));
   System.out.println("MEDIUM Format : " + formattedDateMedium);

   // Prints date as June 27, 2020
   String formattedDateLong = currentDate.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.LONG));
   System.out.println("LONG Format : " + formattedDateLong);

   // Prints date as Saturday, June 27, 2020
   String formattedDateFull = currentDate.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.FULL));
   System.out.println("FULL Format : " + formattedDateFull);
  }
 }

Output:

SHORT Format : 6/27/20
MEDIUM Format : Jun 27, 2020
LONG Format : June 27, 2020
FULL Format : Saturday, June 27, 2020

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have covered how we can use the Java LocalDate format() method to convert LocalDate instance to String using the default(yyyy-MM-dd), user-defined, library defined and custom-defined patterns.

Happy Learning!!!

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