This example shows how we can change the date formatting symbols. In this example we change the month names and short month names and also the weekday names and short weekday names.

Other than these two items we can also change other symbols such as the Era name and AM-PM string.

package org.kodejava.example.text;

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.DateFormatSymbols;
import java.util.Date;

public class DateFormatSymbolsExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Defining a new Date Format Symbols, the following are month and day
        // names in Indonesian.
        String[] newMonths = {"JANUARI", "FEBRUARI", "MARET", "APRIL", "MEI",
            "JUNI", "JULI", "AGUSTUS", "SEPTEMBER", "OKTOBER", "NOVEMBER",
            "DESEMBER"};
        String[] newShortMonths = {"JAN", "FEB", "MAR", "APR", "MEI", "JUN",
            "JUL", "AGU", "SEP", "OKT", "NOV", "DES"};
        String[] newWeekdays = {"", "MINGGU", "SENIN", "SELASA", "RABU", "KAMIS",
            "JUMAT", "SABTU"};
        String[] shortWeekdays = {"", "MIN", "SEN", "SEL", "RAB", "KAM", "JUM",
            "SAB"};

        DateFormatSymbols symbols = new DateFormatSymbols();
        symbols.setMonths(newMonths);
        symbols.setShortMonths(newShortMonths);
        symbols.setWeekdays(newWeekdays);
        symbols.setShortWeekdays(shortWeekdays);

        DateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMMM yyyy", symbols);
        System.out.println(format.format(new Date()));

        format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMM yyyy", symbols);
        System.out.println(format.format(new Date()));

        format = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE, dd MMM yyyy", symbols);
        System.out.println(format.format(new Date()));

        format = new SimpleDateFormat("E, dd MMM yyyy", symbols);
        System.out.println(format.format(new Date()));
    }
}

The result of the code snippet above is:

15 FEBRUARI 2018
15 FEB 2018
KAMIS, 15 FEB 2018
KAM, 15 FEB 2018

• Author
• Recent Posts

Wayan Saryada

Founder at Kode Java Org

I am a programmer, a runner, a recreational diver, currently live in the island of Bali, Indonesia. Mostly programming in Java, Spring Framework, Hibernate / JPA. If these posts help, you can support me, buy me a cup of coffee or tea. Thank you 🥳

Latest posts by Wayan Saryada (see all)

• How do I convert java.util.TimeZone to java.time.ZoneId? - April 25, 2020
• How do I get a list of all TimeZones Ids using Java 8? - April 25, 2020
• How do I get HTTP headers using HttpClient HEAD request? - April 22, 2020