Here you can find the source of parseDate(String date, String format)
public static Date parseDate(String date, String format)
//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 parseDate(String date, String format) { if (date == null) { return null; }/*ww w.j a v a 2 s.c o m*/ date = date.trim(); if (date.length() == 0) { return null; } SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(format); try { return dateFormat.parse(date); } catch (ParseException e) { //throw new RuntimeException(e); return null; } } public static Date parse(String date) throws ParseException { if (date == null) { return null; } date = date.trim(); if (date.length() == 0) { return null; } SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT_D, Locale.US); return format.parse(date); } }