Here you can find the source of parse(String date)
public static Date parse(String date) throws ParseException
//package com.java2s; import java.text.ParseException; import java.text.SimpleDateFormat; import java.util.Date; import java.util.Locale; public class Main { public static final String DATE_FORMAT_D = "EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z"; public static Date parse(String date) throws ParseException { if (date == null) { return null; }// ww w . j a v a2 s. c om date = date.trim(); if (date.length() == 0) { return null; } SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT_D, Locale.US); return format.parse(date); } }