Convert String to Calendar

I'm trying to convert a String to Calendar. This is my attempt:

Code:

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String content = "Thu Aug 05 21:07:55 CDT 2010";
SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy");
format.applyPattern(content); //line 65
...
//my attempt stopped here because of Exception.

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I end up getting this exception:

Code:

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java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Illegal pattern  character 'T'
        at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.translatePattern(Unknown Source)
        at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.applyLocalizedPattern(Unknown Source)
        at sudoku.SudokuWorld.getTimeOfLastExecution(SudokuWorld.java:65)
        at sudoku.SudokuWorld.<init>(SudokuWorld.java:28)
        at sudoku.DriverProgram.main(DriverProgram.java:5)

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The only 'T' in the String content is T in Thu. Consequently, I decided to do this:

Code:

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SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE");
format1.applyPattern("Wed"); //line 63

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and evidently enough, I get an exception:

Code:

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java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Illegal pattern character 'e'
        at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.compile(Unknown Source)
        at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.applyPattern(Unknown Source)
        at sudoku.SudokuWorld.getTimeOfLastExecution(SudokuWorld.java:63)
        at sudoku.SudokuWorld.<init>(SudokuWorld.java:28)
        at sudoku.DriverProgram.main(DriverProgram.java:5)

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Now when I do something like this:

Code:

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SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("mm/dd/yy");
format1.applyPattern("05/18/92");

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I get no exception.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance!

Look at the SimpleDateFormat class API. Are you sure you want to call toPattern(...) much less with a parameter?

Oh sorry. In my IDE it is applyPattern(). I manually typed it in here and did it incorrectly.

applyPattern is not used for this. Take a look at the documentation (SimpleDateFormat (Java 2 Platform SE v1.4.2)); it's used to convert a string like hh:mm:ss to 13:26:59.

EDIT: You're looking for something more like this:

Code:

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long epoch = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss").parse("01/01/1970 01:00:00");

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(Source: http://www.epochconverter.com/)

parse() returns a Date, not a long...
But yes, the OP should be using parse().

Oh dur.. applyPattern is to change this pattern. Thanks for the help!