How to validate string matches needed pattern in java?

Question

I have a csv file and in it there is a string representation of a date and time

2014-05-11T09:00:01.772401

I am trying to verify it follows this format. My thought was to use a regex to match a pattern like 4 numbers followed by a - 2 numbers followed by a - and so on and so forth but i'm not familiar enough with regexes to build it.

Is validation of a string matching a specific pattern best accomplished using regexes or should I use something else. If regex is the way can you please provide the regex and explain what Char's represent in the validation process.

Also any links that could better explain regex pattern matching would be greatly appreciated.

docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/regex

ajb
– ajb

2014-12-18 19:13:32 +00:00
Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 19:13 — ajb
– ajb, Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 19:13

gtgaxiola · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-18 19:18:29Z

2

You may use SimpleDateFormat to determine if the string representation is valid.

From your string

2014-05-11T09:00:01.772401

It seems the pattern would be:yyyy-MM-dd'T'hh:mm:ss.SSSSSS

Example usage:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    String t = "2014-05-11T09:00:01.772401";
    final String pattern = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'hh:mm:ss.SSSSSS";
    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);
    try {
        sdf.parse(t);
        System.out.println("Valid");
    } catch(java.text.ParseException e) {
        System.out.println("Invalid format");
    }
}

answered Dec 18, 2014 at 19:18

gtgaxiola

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1 Comment

Jeremy Over a year ago

Didnt even think about using SimpleDateFormat to check validity thank you.

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