Detecting the date format in Java

Question

I am grabbing dates from Various API's like G+ FB and Skype, I have one following function which I got from here

private static final Map<String, String> DATE_FORMAT_REGEXPS = new HashMap<String, String>() {{
        put("^\\d{8}$", "yyyyMMdd");
        put("^\\d{1,2}-\\d{1,2}-\\d{4}$", "dd-MM-yyyy"); //Aug 24, 1990
        put("^\\d{4}-\\d{1,2}-\\d{1,2}$", "yyyy-MM-dd");
        put("^\\d{1,2}/\\d{1,2}/\\d{4}$", "MM/dd/yyyy");
        put("^\\d{4}/\\d{1,2}/\\d{1,2}$", "yyyy/MM/dd");
        put("^\\d{1,2}\\s[a-z]{3}\\s\\d{4}$", "dd MMM yyyy");
        put("^\\d{1,2}\\s[a-z]{4,}\\s\\d{4}$", "dd MMMM yyyy");
        put("^\\d{12}$", "yyyyMMddHHmm");
        put("^\\d{8}\\s\\d{4}$", "yyyyMMdd HHmm");
        put("^\\d{1,2}-\\d{1,2}-\\d{4}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}$", "dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm");
        put("^\\d{4}-\\d{1,2}-\\d{1,2}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}$", "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm");
        put("^\\d{1,2}/\\d{1,2}/\\d{4}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}$", "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm");
        put("^\\d{4}/\\d{1,2}/\\d{1,2}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}$", "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm");
        put("^\\d{1,2}\\s[a-z]{3}\\s\\d{4}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}$", "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm");
        put("^\\d{1,2}\\s[a-z]{4,}\\s\\d{4}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}$", "dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm");
        put("^\\d{14}$", "yyyyMMddHHmmss");
        put("^\\d{8}\\s\\d{6}$", "yyyyMMdd HHmmss");
        put("^\\d{1,2}-\\d{1,2}-\\d{4}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}$", "dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss");
        put("^\\d{4}-\\d{1,2}-\\d{1,2}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}$", "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
        put("^\\d{1,2}/\\d{1,2}/\\d{4}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}$", "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
        put("^\\d{4}/\\d{1,2}/\\d{1,2}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}$", "yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss");
        put("^\\d{1,2}\\s[a-z]{3}\\s\\d{4}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}$", "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss");
        put("^\\d{1,2}\\s[a-z]{4,}\\s\\d{4}\\s\\d{1,2}:\\d{2}:\\d{2}$", "dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm:ss");
    }};



    public String determineDateFormat(String dateString) {
        for (String regexp : DATE_FORMAT_REGEXPS.keySet()) {
            if (dateString.toLowerCase().matches(regexp)) {
                return DATE_FORMAT_REGEXPS.get(regexp);
            }
        }
        return "Unknown Format"; // Unknown format.
    }

It works for most of the date formats, albeit if I encounter a date like: Aug 24, 1990. I want to know which date format is this? MMM DD YYYY or what? Also any hints so that I can add this to the already specified regex?

Answer 1

Pattern for Aug 24, 1990 is "MMM dd, yyyy" with en Locale.

Answer 2

Have you tried using a specific library for this purpose instead? I find Natty to be very useful for me when I am processing random date formats from external APIs.

https://github.com/joestelmach/natty

You can try it out on the site too in an interactive form to see what it can and cant process before you decide to integrate it with your code.

http://natty.joestelmach.com/try.jsp