# DateFormat Class Reference

DateFormat is an abstract class for a family of classes that convert dates and times from their internal representations to textual form and back again in a language-independent manner. More...

`#include <datefmt.h>`

Inheritance diagram for DateFormat:

## Public Types
enum | EStyle { kNone = -1, kFull = 0, kLong = 1, kMedium = 2, kShort = 3, kDateOffset = kShort + 1, kDateTime = 8, kDateTimeOffset = kDateTime + 1, kRelative = (1 << 7), kFullRelative = (kFull | kRelative), kLongRelative = kLong | kRelative, kMediumRelative = kMedium | kRelative, kShortRelative = kShort | kRelative, kDefault = kMedium, FULL = kFull, LONG = kLong, MEDIUM = kMedium, SHORT = kShort, DEFAULT = kDefault, DATE_OFFSET = kDateOffset, NONE = kNone, DATE_TIME = kDateTime }
| Constants for various style patterns. More...
enum | EField { kEraField = UDAT_ERA_FIELD, kYearField = UDAT_YEAR_FIELD, kMonthField = UDAT_MONTH_FIELD, kDateField = UDAT_DATE_FIELD, kHourOfDay1Field = UDAT_HOUR_OF_DAY1_FIELD, kHourOfDay0Field = UDAT_HOUR_OF_DAY0_FIELD, kMinuteField = UDAT_MINUTE_FIELD, kSecondField = UDAT_SECOND_FIELD, kMillisecondField = UDAT_FRACTIONAL_SECOND_FIELD, kDayOfWeekField = UDAT_DAY_OF_WEEK_FIELD, kDayOfYearField = UDAT_DAY_OF_YEAR_FIELD, kDayOfWeekInMonthField = UDAT_DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH_FIELD, kWeekOfYearField = UDAT_WEEK_OF_YEAR_FIELD, kWeekOfMonthField = UDAT_WEEK_OF_MONTH_FIELD, kAmPmField = UDAT_AM_PM_FIELD, kHour1Field = UDAT_HOUR1_FIELD, kHour0Field = UDAT_HOUR0_FIELD, kTimezoneField = UDAT_TIMEZONE_FIELD, kYearWOYField = UDAT_YEAR_WOY_FIELD, kDOWLocalField = UDAT_DOW_LOCAL_FIELD, kExtendedYearField = UDAT_EXTENDED_YEAR_FIELD, kJulianDayField = UDAT_JULIAN_DAY_FIELD, kMillisecondsInDayField = UDAT_MILLISECONDS_IN_DAY_FIELD, ERA_FIELD = UDAT_ERA_FIELD, YEAR_FIELD = UDAT_YEAR_FIELD, MONTH_FIELD = UDAT_MONTH_FIELD, DATE_FIELD = UDAT_DATE_FIELD, HOUR_OF_DAY1_FIELD = UDAT_HOUR_OF_DAY1_FIELD, HOUR_OF_DAY0_FIELD = UDAT_HOUR_OF_DAY0_FIELD, MINUTE_FIELD = UDAT_MINUTE_FIELD, SECOND_FIELD = UDAT_SECOND_FIELD, MILLISECOND_FIELD = UDAT_FRACTIONAL_SECOND_FIELD, DAY_OF_WEEK_FIELD = UDAT_DAY_OF_WEEK_FIELD, DAY_OF_YEAR_FIELD = UDAT_DAY_OF_YEAR_FIELD, DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH_FIELD = UDAT_DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH_FIELD, WEEK_OF_YEAR_FIELD = UDAT_WEEK_OF_YEAR_FIELD, WEEK_OF_MONTH_FIELD = UDAT_WEEK_OF_MONTH_FIELD, AM_PM_FIELD = UDAT_AM_PM_FIELD, HOUR1_FIELD = UDAT_HOUR1_FIELD, HOUR0_FIELD = UDAT_HOUR0_FIELD, TIMEZONE_FIELD = UDAT_TIMEZONE_FIELD }
| Field selector for FieldPosition for DateFormat fields. More...
## Public Member Functions
virtual | ~DateFormat ()
| Destructor.
virtual UBool | operator== (const Format &) const
| Equality operator.
virtual UnicodeString & | format (const Formattable &obj, UnicodeString &appendTo, FieldPosition &pos, UErrorCode &status) const
| Format an object to produce a string.
virtual UnicodeString & | format (const Formattable &obj, UnicodeString &appendTo, FieldPositionIterator *posIter, UErrorCode &status) const
| Format an object to produce a string.
virtual UnicodeString & | format (Calendar &cal, UnicodeString &appendTo, FieldPosition &fieldPosition) const =0
| Formats a date into a date/time string.
virtual UnicodeString & | format (Calendar &cal, UnicodeString &appendTo, FieldPositionIterator *posIter, UErrorCode &status) const
| Formats a date into a date/time string.
UnicodeString & | format (UDate date, UnicodeString &appendTo, FieldPosition &fieldPosition) const
| Formats a UDate into a date/time string.
UnicodeString & | format (UDate date, UnicodeString &appendTo, FieldPositionIterator *posIter, UErrorCode &status) const
| Formats a UDate into a date/time string.
UnicodeString & | format (UDate date, UnicodeString &appendTo) const
| Formats a UDate into a date/time string.
UnicodeString & | format (const Formattable &obj, UnicodeString &appendTo, UErrorCode &status) const
| Redeclared Format method.
virtual UDate | parse (const UnicodeString &text, UErrorCode &status) const
| Parse a date/time string.
virtual void | parse (const UnicodeString &text, Calendar &cal, ParsePosition &pos) const =0
| Parse a date/time string beginning at the given parse position.
UDate | parse (const UnicodeString &text, ParsePosition &pos) const
| Parse a date/time string beginning at the given parse position.
virtual void | parseObject (const UnicodeString &source, Formattable &result, ParsePosition &parse_pos) const
| Parse a string to produce an object.
virtual UBool | isLenient (void) const
| Returns true if the formatter is set for lenient parsing.
virtual void | setLenient (UBool lenient)
| Specify whether or not date/time parsing is to be lenient.
virtual const Calendar * | getCalendar (void) const
| Gets the calendar associated with this date/time formatter.
virtual void | adoptCalendar (Calendar *calendarToAdopt)
| Set the calendar to be used by this date format.
virtual void | setCalendar (const Calendar &newCalendar)
| Set the calendar to be used by this date format.
virtual const NumberFormat * | getNumberFormat (void) const
| Gets the number formatter which this date/time formatter uses to format and parse the numeric portions of the pattern.
virtual void | adoptNumberFormat (NumberFormat *formatToAdopt)
| Allows you to set the number formatter.
virtual void | setNumberFormat (const NumberFormat &newNumberFormat)
| Allows you to set the number formatter.
virtual const TimeZone & | getTimeZone (void) const
| Returns a reference to the TimeZone used by this DateFormat's calendar.
virtual void | adoptTimeZone (TimeZone *zoneToAdopt)
| Sets the time zone for the calendar of this DateFormat object.
virtual void | setTimeZone (const TimeZone &zone)
| Sets the time zone for the calendar of this DateFormat object.
## Static Public Member Functions
static DateFormat * | createInstance (void)
| Create a default date/time formatter that uses the SHORT style for both the date and the time.
static DateFormat * | createTimeInstance (EStyle style=kDefault, const Locale &aLocale=Locale::getDefault())
| Creates a time formatter with the given formatting style for the given locale.
static DateFormat * | createDateInstance (EStyle style=kDefault, const Locale &aLocale=Locale::getDefault())
| Creates a date formatter with the given formatting style for the given const locale.
static DateFormat * | createDateTimeInstance (EStyle dateStyle=kDefault, EStyle timeStyle=kDefault, const Locale &aLocale=Locale::getDefault())
| Creates a date/time formatter with the given formatting styles for the given locale.
static const Locale * | getAvailableLocales (int32_t &count)
| Gets the set of locales for which DateFormats are installed.
## Protected Member Functions
| DateFormat ()
| Default constructor.
| DateFormat (const DateFormat &)
| Copy constructor.
DateFormat & | operator= (const DateFormat &)
| Default assignment operator.
## Protected Attributes
Calendar * | fCalendar
| The calendar that DateFormat uses to produce the time field values needed to implement date/time formatting.
NumberFormat * | fNumberFormat
| The number formatter that DateFormat uses to format numbers in dates and times.

## Detailed Description

DateFormat is an abstract class for a family of classes that convert dates and times from their internal representations to textual form and back again in a language-independent manner.

Converting from the internal representation (milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970) to text is known as "formatting," and converting from text to millis is known as "parsing." We currently define only one concrete subclass of DateFormat: SimpleDateFormat, which can handle pretty much all normal date formatting and parsing actions.

DateFormat helps you to format and parse dates for any locale. Your code can be completely independent of the locale conventions for months, days of the week, or even the calendar format: lunar vs. solar.

To format a date for the current Locale, use one of the static factory methods:

           DateFormat* dfmt = DateFormat::createDateInstance();
          UDate myDate = Calendar::getNow();
          UnicodeString myString;
          myString = dfmt->format( myDate, myString );

If you are formatting multiple numbers, it is more efficient to get the format and use it multiple times so that the system doesn't have to fetch the information about the local language and country conventions multiple times.

           DateFormat* df = DateFormat::createDateInstance();
          UnicodeString myString;
          UDate myDateArr[] = { 0.0, 100000000.0, 2000000000.0 }; // test values
          for (int32_t i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
              myString.remove();
              cout << df->format( myDateArr[i], myString ) << endl;
          }

To get specific fields of a date, you can use UFieldPosition to get specific fields.

           DateFormat* dfmt = DateFormat::createDateInstance();
          FieldPosition pos(DateFormat::YEAR_FIELD);
          UnicodeString myString;
          myString = dfmt->format( myDate, myString );
          cout << myString << endl;
          cout << pos.getBeginIndex() << "," << pos. getEndIndex() << endl;

To format a date for a different Locale, specify it in the call to createDateInstance().

            DateFormat* df =
               DateFormat::createDateInstance( DateFormat::SHORT, Locale::getFrance());

You can use a DateFormat to parse also.

            UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
           UDate myDate = df->parse(myString, status);

Use createDateInstance() to produce the normal date format for that country. There are other static factory methods available. Use createTimeInstance() to produce the normal time format for that country. Use createDateTimeInstance() to produce a DateFormat that formats both date and time. You can pass in different options to these factory methods to control the length of the result; from SHORT to MEDIUM to LONG to FULL. The exact result depends on the locale, but generally:

- SHORT is completely numeric, such as 12/13/52 or 3:30pm
- MEDIUM is longer, such as Jan 12, 1952
- LONG is longer, such as January 12, 1952 or 3:30:32pm
- FULL is pretty completely specified, such as Tuesday, April 12, 1952 AD or 3:30:42pm PST.

You can also set the time zone on the format if you wish. If you want even more control over the format or parsing, (or want to give your users more control), you can try casting the DateFormat you get from the factory methods to a SimpleDateFormat. This will work for the majority of countries; just remember to chck getDynamicClassID() before carrying out the cast.

You can also use forms of the parse and format methods with ParsePosition and FieldPosition to allow you to

- Progressively parse through pieces of a string.
- Align any particular field, or find out where it is for selection on the screen.

User subclasses are not supported. While clients may write subclasses, such code will not necessarily work and will not be guaranteed to work stably from release to release.

Definition at line 138 of file datefmt.h.

## Member Enumeration Documentation

enum DateFormat::EField

Field selector for FieldPosition for DateFormat fields.

Obsolete:
  ICU 3.4 use UDateFormatField instead, since this API will be removed in that release

Definition at line 691 of file datefmt.h.

enum DateFormat::EStyle

Constants for various style patterns.

These reflect the order of items in the DateTimePatterns resource. There are 4 time patterns, 4 date patterns, the default date-time pattern, and 4 date-time patterns. Each block of 4 values in the resource occurs in the order full, long, medium, short.

Stable:
  ICU 2.4

Enumerator:

  FULL | These constants are provided for backwards compatibility only. Please use the C++ style constants defined above.

Definition at line 148 of file datefmt.h.

## Constructor & Destructor Documentation

virtual DateFormat::~DateFormat | ( |  | ) | `[virtual]`

Destructor.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

DateFormat::DateFormat | ( |  | ) | `[protected]`

Default constructor.

Creates a DateFormat with no Calendar or NumberFormat associated with it. This constructor depends on the subclasses to fill in the calendar and numberFormat fields.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

DateFormat::DateFormat | ( | const DateFormat & |  | ) | `[protected]`

Copy constructor.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

## Member Function Documentation

virtual void DateFormat::adoptCalendar | ( | Calendar * | calendarToAdopt | ) | `[virtual]`

Set the calendar to be used by this date format.

Initially, the default calendar for the specified or default locale is used. The caller should not delete the Calendar object after it is adopted by this call. Adopting a new calendar will change to the default symbols.

Parameters:

  | calendarToAdopt | Calendar object to be adopted.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual void DateFormat::adoptNumberFormat | ( | NumberFormat * | formatToAdopt | ) | `[virtual]`

Allows you to set the number formatter.

The caller should not delete the NumberFormat object after it is adopted by this call.

Parameters:

  | formatToAdopt | NumberFormat object to be adopted.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

virtual void DateFormat::adoptTimeZone | ( | TimeZone * | zoneToAdopt | ) | `[virtual]`

Sets the time zone for the calendar of this DateFormat object.

The caller no longer owns the TimeZone object and should not delete it after this call.

Parameters:

  | zoneToAdopt | the TimeZone to be adopted.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

static DateFormat* DateFormat::createDateInstance | ( | EStyle | style = `kDefault`,
|  | const Locale & | aLocale = `Locale::getDefault()` |
| ) |  |  | `[static]`

Creates a date formatter with the given formatting style for the given const locale.

Parameters:

  | style | The given formatting style. For example, SHORT for "M/d/yy" in the US locale.
  | aLocale | The given locale.

Returns:
  A date formatter which the caller owns.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

static DateFormat* DateFormat::createDateTimeInstance | ( | EStyle | dateStyle = `kDefault`,
|  | EStyle | timeStyle = `kDefault`,
|  | const Locale & | aLocale = `Locale::getDefault()` |
| ) |  |  | `[static]`

Creates a date/time formatter with the given formatting styles for the given locale.

Parameters:

  | dateStyle | The given formatting style for the date portion of the result. For example, SHORT for "M/d/yy" in the US locale.
  | timeStyle | The given formatting style for the time portion of the result. For example, SHORT for "h:mm a" in the US locale. Relative time styles are not currently supported.
  | aLocale | The given locale.

Returns:
  A date/time formatter which the caller owns.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

static DateFormat* DateFormat::createInstance | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

Create a default date/time formatter that uses the SHORT style for both the date and the time.

Returns:
  A date/time formatter which the caller owns.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

static DateFormat* DateFormat::createTimeInstance | ( | EStyle | style = `kDefault`,
|  | const Locale & | aLocale = `Locale::getDefault()` |
| ) |  |  | `[static]`

Creates a time formatter with the given formatting style for the given locale.

Parameters:

  | style | The given formatting style. For example, SHORT for "h:mm a" in the US locale. Relative time styles are not currently supported.
  | aLocale | The given locale.

Returns:
  A time formatter which the caller owns.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

UnicodeString & DateFormat::format | ( | const Formattable & | obj,
|  | UnicodeString & | appendTo,
|  | UErrorCode & | status |
| ) |  |  | const`[inline]`

Redeclared Format method.

Parameters:

  | obj | The object to be formatted into a string.
  | appendTo | Output parameter to receive result. Result is appended to existing contents.
  | status | Output param filled with success/failure status.

Returns:
  Reference to 'appendTo' parameter.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Reimplemented from Format.

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

Definition at line 741 of file datefmt.h.

References format().

UnicodeString& DateFormat::format | ( | UDate | date,
|  | UnicodeString & | appendTo |
| ) |  |  | const

Formats a UDate into a date/time string.

If there is a problem, you won't know, using this method. Use the overloaded format() method which takes a FieldPosition& to detect formatting problems.

Parameters:

  | date | The UDate value to be formatted into a string.
  | appendTo | Output parameter to receive result. Result is appended to existing contents.

Returns:
  Reference to 'appendTo' parameter.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

UnicodeString& DateFormat::format | ( | UDate | date,
|  | UnicodeString & | appendTo,
|  | FieldPositionIterator * | posIter,
|  | UErrorCode & | status |
| ) |  |  | const

Formats a UDate into a date/time string.

Parameters:

  | date | UDate to be formatted into a date/time string.
  | appendTo | Output parameter to receive result. Result is appended to existing contents.
  | posIter | On return, can be used to iterate over positions of fields generated by this format call. Field values are defined in UDateFormatField. Can be NULL.
  | status | error status.

Returns:
  Reference to 'appendTo' parameter.

Draft:
  This API may be changed in the future versions and was introduced in ICU 4.4

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

UnicodeString& DateFormat::format | ( | UDate | date,
|  | UnicodeString & | appendTo,
|  | FieldPosition & | fieldPosition |
| ) |  |  | const

Formats a UDate into a date/time string.

On input, the FieldPosition parameter may have its "field" member filled with an enum value specifying a field. On output, the FieldPosition will be filled in with the text offsets for that field.

For example, given a time text "1996.07.10 AD at 15:08:56 PDT", if the given fieldPosition.field is UDAT_YEAR_FIELD, the offsets fieldPosition.beginIndex and statfieldPositionus.getEndIndex will be set to 0 and 4, respectively.

Notice that if the same time field appears more than once in a pattern, the status will be set for the first occurence of that time field. For instance, formatting a UDate to the time string "1 PM PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)" using the pattern "h a z (zzzz)" and the alignment field DateFormat::TIMEZONE_FIELD, the offsets fieldPosition.beginIndex and fieldPosition.getEndIndex will be set to 5 and 8, respectively, for the first occurence of the timezone pattern character 'z'.

Parameters:

  | date | UDate to be formatted into a date/time string.
  | appendTo | Output parameter to receive result. Result is appended to existing contents.
  | fieldPosition | On input: an alignment field, if desired (see examples above) On output: the offsets of the alignment field (see examples above)

Returns:
  Reference to 'appendTo' parameter.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual UnicodeString& DateFormat::format | ( | Calendar & | cal,
|  | UnicodeString & | appendTo,
|  | FieldPositionIterator * | posIter,
|  | UErrorCode & | status |
| ) |  |  | const`[virtual]`

Formats a date into a date/time string.

Subclasses should implement this method.

Parameters:

  | cal | Calendar set to the date and time to be formatted into a date/time string. When the calendar type is different from the internal calendar held by this DateFormat instance, the date and the time zone will be inherited from the input calendar, but other calendar field values will be calculated by the internal calendar.
  | appendTo | Output parameter to receive result. Result is appended to existing contents.
  | posIter | On return, can be used to iterate over positions of fields generated by this format call. Field values are defined in UDateFormatField. Can be NULL.
  | status | error status.

Returns:
  Reference to 'appendTo' parameter.

Draft:
  This API may be changed in the future versions and was introduced in ICU 4.4

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual UnicodeString& DateFormat::format | ( | Calendar & | cal,
|  | UnicodeString & | appendTo,
|  | FieldPosition & | fieldPosition |
| ) |  |  | const`[pure virtual]`

Formats a date into a date/time string.

This is an abstract method which concrete subclasses must implement.

On input, the FieldPosition parameter may have its "field" member filled with an enum value specifying a field. On output, the FieldPosition will be filled in with the text offsets for that field.

For example, given a time text "1996.07.10 AD at 15:08:56 PDT", if the given fieldPosition.field is UDAT_YEAR_FIELD, the offsets fieldPosition.beginIndex and statfieldPositionus.getEndIndex will be set to 0 and 4, respectively.

Notice that if the same time field appears more than once in a pattern, the status will be set for the first occurence of that time field. For instance, formatting a UDate to the time string "1 PM PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)" using the pattern "h a z (zzzz)" and the alignment field DateFormat::TIMEZONE_FIELD, the offsets fieldPosition.beginIndex and fieldPosition.getEndIndex will be set to 5 and 8, respectively, for the first occurence of the timezone pattern character 'z'.

Parameters:

  | cal | Calendar set to the date and time to be formatted into a date/time string. When the calendar type is different from the internal calendar held by this DateFormat instance, the date and the time zone will be inherited from the input calendar, but other calendar field values will be calculated by the internal calendar.
  | appendTo | Output parameter to receive result. Result is appended to existing contents.
  | fieldPosition | On input: an alignment field, if desired (see examples above) On output: the offsets of the alignment field (see examples above)

Returns:
  Reference to 'appendTo' parameter.

Stable:
  ICU 2.1

Implemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual UnicodeString& DateFormat::format | ( | const Formattable & | obj,
|  | UnicodeString & | appendTo,
|  | FieldPositionIterator * | posIter,
|  | UErrorCode & | status |
| ) |  |  | const`[virtual]`

Format an object to produce a string.

This method handles Formattable objects with a UDate type. If a the Formattable object type is not a Date, then it returns a failing UErrorCode.

Parameters:

  | obj | The object to format. Must be a Date.
  | appendTo | Output parameter to receive result. Result is appended to existing contents.
  | posIter | On return, can be used to iterate over positions of fields generated by this format call. Field values are defined in UDateFormatField. Can be NULL.
  | status | Output param filled with success/failure status.

Returns:
  Reference to 'appendTo' parameter.

Draft:
  This API may be changed in the future versions and was introduced in ICU 4.4

Reimplemented from Format.

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual UnicodeString& DateFormat::format | ( | const Formattable & | obj,
|  | UnicodeString & | appendTo,
|  | FieldPosition & | pos,
|  | UErrorCode & | status |
| ) |  |  | const`[virtual]`

Format an object to produce a string.

This method handles Formattable objects with a UDate type. If a the Formattable object type is not a Date, then it returns a failing UErrorCode.

Parameters:

  | obj | The object to format. Must be a Date.
  | appendTo | Output parameter to receive result. Result is appended to existing contents.
  | pos | On input: an alignment field, if desired. On output: the offsets of the alignment field.
  | status | Output param filled with success/failure status.

Returns:
  Reference to 'appendTo' parameter.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Implements Format.

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

Referenced by format().

static const Locale* DateFormat::getAvailableLocales | ( | int32_t & | count | ) | `[static]`

Gets the set of locales for which DateFormats are installed.

Parameters:

  | count | Filled in with the number of locales in the list that is returned.

Returns:
  the set of locales for which DateFormats are installed. The caller does NOT own this list and must not delete it.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

virtual const Calendar* DateFormat::getCalendar | ( | void |  | ) | const`[virtual]`

Gets the calendar associated with this date/time formatter.

Returns:
  the calendar associated with this date/time formatter.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

virtual const NumberFormat* DateFormat::getNumberFormat | ( | void |  | ) | const`[virtual]`

Gets the number formatter which this date/time formatter uses to format and parse the numeric portions of the pattern.

Returns:
  the number formatter which this date/time formatter uses.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

virtual const TimeZone& DateFormat::getTimeZone | ( | void |  | ) | const`[virtual]`

Returns a reference to the TimeZone used by this DateFormat's calendar.

Returns:
  the time zone associated with the calendar of DateFormat.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

virtual UBool DateFormat::isLenient | ( | void |  | ) | const`[virtual]`

Returns true if the formatter is set for lenient parsing.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

DateFormat& DateFormat::operator= | ( | const DateFormat & |  | ) | `[protected]`

Default assignment operator.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Reimplemented from Format.

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual UBool DateFormat::operator== | ( | const Format & |  | ) | const`[virtual]`

Equality operator.

Returns true if the two formats have the same behavior.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

UDate DateFormat::parse | ( | const UnicodeString & | text,
|  | ParsePosition & | pos |
| ) |  |  | const

Parse a date/time string beginning at the given parse position.

For example, a time text "07/10/96 4:5 PM, PDT" will be parsed into a Date that is equivalent to Date(837039928046).

By default, parsing is lenient: If the input is not in the form used by this object's format method but can still be parsed as a date, then the parse succeeds. Clients may insist on strict adherence to the format by calling setLenient(false).

See also:
  DateFormat::setLenient(boolean)

Parameters:

  | text | The date/time string to be parsed
  | pos | On input, the position at which to start parsing; on output, the position at which parsing terminated, or the start position if the parse failed.

Returns:
  A valid UDate if the input could be parsed.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual void DateFormat::parse | ( | const UnicodeString & | text,
|  | Calendar & | cal,
|  | ParsePosition & | pos |
| ) |  |  | const`[pure virtual]`

Parse a date/time string beginning at the given parse position.

For example, a time text "07/10/96 4:5 PM, PDT" will be parsed into a Date that is equivalent to Date(837039928046).

By default, parsing is lenient: If the input is not in the form used by this object's format method but can still be parsed as a date, then the parse succeeds. Clients may insist on strict adherence to the format by calling setLenient(false).

See also:
  DateFormat::setLenient(boolean)

Parameters:

  | text | The date/time string to be parsed
  | cal | a Calendar set to the date and time to be formatted into a date/time string. When the calendar type is different from the internal calendar held by this DateFormat instance, calendar field values will be parsed based on the internal calendar, then the result (time in milliseconds and time zone) will be set in this calendar.
  | pos | On input, the position at which to start parsing; on output, the position at which parsing terminated, or the start position if the parse failed.

Returns:
  A valid UDate if the input could be parsed.

Stable:
  ICU 2.1

Implemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual UDate DateFormat::parse | ( | const UnicodeString & | text,
|  | UErrorCode & | status |
| ) |  |  | const`[virtual]`

Parse a date/time string.

Parameters:

  | text | The string to be parsed into a UDate value.
  | status | Output param to be set to success/failure code. If 'text' cannot be parsed, it will be set to a failure code.

Returns:
  The parsed UDate value, if successful.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Reimplemented in SimpleDateFormat.

virtual void DateFormat::parseObject | ( | const UnicodeString & | source,
|  | Formattable & | result,
|  | ParsePosition & | parse_pos |
| ) |  |  | const`[virtual]`

Parse a string to produce an object.

This methods handles parsing of date/time strings into Formattable objects with UDate types.

Before calling, set parse_pos.index to the offset you want to start parsing at in the source. After calling, parse_pos.index is the end of the text you parsed. If error occurs, index is unchanged.

When parsing, leading whitespace is discarded (with a successful parse), while trailing whitespace is left as is.

See Format::parseObject() for more.

Parameters:

  | source | The string to be parsed into an object.
  | result | Formattable to be set to the parse result. If parse fails, return contents are undefined.
  | parse_pos | The position to start parsing at. Upon return this param is set to the position after the last character successfully parsed. If the source is not parsed successfully, this param will remain unchanged.

Returns:
  A newly created Formattable* object, or NULL on failure. The caller owns this and should delete it when done.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

Implements Format.

virtual void DateFormat::setCalendar | ( | const Calendar & | newCalendar | ) | `[virtual]`

Set the calendar to be used by this date format.

Initially, the default calendar for the specified or default locale is used.

Parameters:

  | newCalendar | Calendar object to be set.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

virtual void DateFormat::setLenient | ( | UBool | lenient | ) | `[virtual]`

Specify whether or not date/time parsing is to be lenient.

With lenient parsing, the parser may use heuristics to interpret inputs that do not precisely match this object's format. With strict parsing, inputs must match this object's format.

Parameters:

  | lenient | True specifies date/time interpretation to be lenient.

See also:
  Calendar::setLenient

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

virtual void DateFormat::setNumberFormat | ( | const NumberFormat & | newNumberFormat | ) | `[virtual]`

Allows you to set the number formatter.

Parameters:

  | newNumberFormat | NumberFormat object to be set.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

virtual void DateFormat::setTimeZone | ( | const TimeZone & | zone | ) | `[virtual]`

Sets the time zone for the calendar of this DateFormat object.

Parameters:

  | zone | the new time zone.

Stable:
  ICU 2.0

## Field Documentation

Calendar* DateFormat::fCalendar`[protected]`

The calendar that DateFormat uses to produce the time field values needed to implement date/time formatting.

Subclasses should generally initialize this to the default calendar for the locale associated with this DateFormat.

Stable:
  ICU 2.4

Definition at line 664 of file datefmt.h.

NumberFormat* DateFormat::fNumberFormat`[protected]`

The number formatter that DateFormat uses to format numbers in dates and times.

Subclasses should generally initialize this to the default number format for the locale associated with this DateFormat.

Stable:
  ICU 2.4

Definition at line 672 of file datefmt.h.

The documentation for this class was generated from the following file:

- datefmt.h

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