How to convert Date to String in Java

Given a date, the task is to write a Java program to convert the given date into a string.

Examples:

Input: date = “2020-07-27”
Output: 2020-07-27

Input: date = “2018-02-17”
Output: 2018-02-17

Method 1: Using DateFormat.format() method

Approach:

1. Get the date to be converted.
2. Create an instance of SimpleDateFormat class to format the string representation of the date object.
3. Get the date using the Calendar object.
4. Convert the given date into a string using format() method.
5. Print the result.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

Java

// Java program to convert Date to String

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

class GFG {

    // Function to convert date to string
    public static String
    convertDateToString(String date)
    {
        // Converts the string
        // format to date object
        DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat(date);

        // Get the date using calendar object
        Date today = Calendar.getInstance()
                         .getTime();

        // Convert the date into a
        // string using format() method
        String dateToString = df.format(today);

        // Return the result
        return (dateToString);
    }

    // Driver Code
    public static void main(String args[])
    {

        // Given Date
        String date = "07-27-2020";

        // Convert and print the result
        System.out.print(
            convertDateToString(date));
    }
}

Output:

07-27-2020

Method 2: Using LocalDate.toString() method

Approach:

1. Get an instance of LocalDate from date.
2. Convert the given date into a string using the toString() method of LocalDate class.
3. Print the result.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

Java

// Java program to convert Date to String

import java.time.LocalDate;

class GFG {

    // Function to convert date to string
    public static String
    convertDateToString(String date)
    {

        // Get an instance of LocalTime
        // from date
        LocalDate givenDate = LocalDate.parse(date);

        // Convert the given date into a
        // string using toString()method
        String dateToString
            = givenDate.toString();

        // Return the result
        return (dateToString);
    }

    // Driver Code
    public static void main(String args[])
    {

        // Given Date
        String date = "2020-07-27";

        // Convert and print the result
        System.out.print(
            convertDateToString(date));
    }
}

Output:

2020-07-27