Specify the output date to be of a Specified date format.

Question

     DateFormat  formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
     String dateString = "12/12/2006";
     Date dateStringInDateFormat = formatter.parse(dateString);
     System.err.println("the date"+dateStringInDateFormat);
     String str1 = formatter.format(dateStringInDateFormat);
     System.err.println("the date in string format"+str1);
     DateFormat df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT);
     df.setLenient(false);
     Date stick = df.parse(str1);
      System.err.println("The final date to be passed"+stick);The output that i get on screen:
the date Tue Dec 12 00:00:00 GMT 2006
the date in String format 12/12/2006
The final date to be passed Tue Dec 12 00:00:00 GMT 2006
I want the final date to be passed i.e, Date stick to be 12/12/2006
Can anyone helpme in this issue

Answer 1

DateFormats do not change what a Date object contains or how it is displayed. They are only used to format the output when you use them with format(Date). The Date object itself is unchanged and you cannot change it.
So whereever you want to display a date in your particular format you will need to use your DateFormat.