Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import java.text.SimpleDateFormat; import java.util.Date; import java.util.TimeZone; public class Main { public static Date parse(String dateFormatted, String dateFormat) { return parse(dateFormatted, dateFormat, false); } public static Date parse(String dateFormatted, String dateFormat, boolean useUtc) { return parse(dateFormatted, new SimpleDateFormat(dateFormat), useUtc); } public static Date parse(String dateFormatted, SimpleDateFormat dateFormat) { return parse(dateFormatted, dateFormat, false); } public static Date parse(String dateFormatted, SimpleDateFormat dateFormat, boolean useUtc) { Date date = null; if (!dateFormatted.isEmpty()) { try { if (useUtc) { dateFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC")); } date = dateFormat.parse(dateFormatted); } catch (Exception e) { throw new RuntimeException( "Error parsing the dateFormatted: " + dateFormatted + " pattern: " + dateFormat.toPattern(), e); } } return date; } }