Parsing String to date

Question

This is my function to convert a string into a desired output format.But my Date in the desired output format is coming out to be null.Could smeone plz point out my mistake.
Date getDateInDesiredFormat(String strInputDate,String strInputFormat,String strOutputFormat)
     try
       SimpleDateFormat sdfInput  = new SimpleDateFormat(strInputFormat);
       SimpleDateFormat sdfOutput = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yyyy");
       ParsePosition pos = new ParsePosition(0);
       Date dtInputDate=sdfInput.parse(strInputDate.trim(),pos);
       System.out.println(dtInputDate);
       String strFormattedDate=sdfOutput.format(dtInputDate);
       System.out.println(strFormattedDate);
       Date dtOutputDate=sdfOutput.parse(strFormattedDate.trim(),pos);
       if(dtOutputDate==null)
            System.out.println("dtOutputDate is null ");
       else
           System.out.println(dtOutputDate.toString());
       return dtOutputDate;
     catch (NullPointerException npex)
         return null;
      catch(Exception ex)
          return null;
   }This is how i am calling the function
Date date=getDateInDesiredFormat("Fri Sep 30 20:30:56 IST 2006","EE MMM d HH:mm:ss ZZZ yyyy","MM-dd-yyyy");
  }

Answer 1

You need to use the sdfInput object to parse the date and sdfOutput to format and print it (like you did before your 'if'):
SimpleDateFormat sdfInput  = new SimpleDateFormat(strInputFormat);
SimpleDateFormat sdfOutput = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yyyy");
Date dtInputDate=sdfInput.parse(strInputDate.trim());
String strFormattedDate=sdfOutput.format(dtInputDate);
System.out.println(strFormattedDate);the toString() you use in the else block uses a default format, not the one you specify.