Here you can find the source of parseDate(String dateString, Locale locale)
public static Date parseDate(String dateString, Locale locale) throws ParseException
//package com.java2s; /**/*from ww w . j a va 2 s . c om*/ * Copyright (c) 2000-2012 Liferay, Inc. All rights reserved. * * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under * the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free * Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) * any later version. * * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS * FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more * details. */ import java.text.DateFormat; import java.text.ParseException; import java.util.Date; import java.util.Locale; public class Main { public static Date parseDate(String dateString, Locale locale) throws ParseException { DateFormat dateFormat = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT, locale); return dateFormat.parse(dateString); } }