Java Utililty Methods Parse Date

java.text.DateFormat formatter = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
java.util.Date retDate = null;
try {
    retDate = formatter.parse(sDate);
} catch (Exception ex) {
return retDate;

SimpleDateFormat bartDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
try {
    Date date = bartDateFormat.parse(sDate);
    return date;
} catch (Exception ex) {
return null;

if (sDate == null)
    return null;
if (sDate.length() == 0)
    return null;
char c = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) 
    c = sDate.charAt(i);
...

Date date = parseW3CDateTime(sDate, locale);
if (date == null) {
    date = parseRFC822(sDate, locale);
    if ((date == null) && (ADDITIONAL_MASKS.length > 0)) {
        date = parseUsingMask(ADDITIONAL_MASKS, sDate, locale);
return date;
...

sDate = (sDate != null) ? sDate.trim() : null;
if (sDate == null || sDate.length() == 0)
    return null;
ParsePosition pp;
java.util.Date d = null;
try {
    pp = new ParsePosition(0);
    d = _dateFormat.parse(sDate, pp);
...

java.text.SimpleDateFormat formatter = null;
java.util.Date utildate = null;
formatter = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat(sFormat);
utildate = formatter.parse(sDate);
return utildate;

String sRtn = "";
try {
    sRtn = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat(sDestinationFormat)
            .format(new java.text.SimpleDateFormat(sSourceFormat).parse(sDate));
} catch (Exception ex) {
    ex.printStackTrace();
return sRtn;
...

SimpleDateFormat sdf = getDateFormatter(timeFormat);
TimeZone ltz = TimeZone.getDefault();
Date date;
try {
    date = sdf.parse(sdate);
} catch (ParseException pe) {
    throw new RuntimeException("Cannot parse date: " + sdate + "; " + pe.getMessage(), pe);
Date nd = date;
TimeZone tz = TimeZone.getTimeZone(timeZone);
if (ltz.hasSameRules(tz) == false) {
    long lo = ltz.getRawOffset();
    long to = tz.getRawOffset();
    nd = new Date(date.getTime() - to + lo);
return nd;

TimeZone timeZone = TimeZone.getDefault();
Date date = parseDate(sDateTime, sPattern, timeZone);
return date;

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(format);
try {
    return sdf.parse(source);
} catch (ParseException e) {
    return null;