# Formatting #### Date and Time Patterns Date and time formats are specified by *date and time pattern* strings. Within date and time pattern strings, unquoted letters from `'A'` to `'Z'` and from `'a'` to `'z'` are interpreted as pattern letters representing the components of a date or time string. Text can be quoted using single quotes (`'`) to avoid interpretation. `"''"` represents a single quote. All other characters are not interpreted; they're simply copied into the output string during formatting or matched against the input string during parsing. The following pattern letters are defined (all other characters from `'A'` to `'Z'` and from `'a'` to `'z'` are reserved): | Letter | Date or Time Component | Examples | | ------ | ------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- | | `G` | Era designator | `AD` | | `y` | Year | `1996`; `96` | | `Y` | Week year | `2009`; `09` | | `M` | Month in year (context sensitive) | `July`; `Jul`; `07` | | `L` | Month in year (standalone form) | `July`; `Jul`; `07` | | `w` | Week in year | `27` | | `W` | Week in month | `2` | | `D` | Day in year | `189` | | `d` | Day in month | `10` | | `F` | Day of week in month | `2` | | `E` | Day name in week | `Tuesday`; `Tue` | | `u` | Day number of week (1 = Monday, ..., 7 = Sunday) | `1` | | `a` | Am/pm marker | `PM` | | `H` | Hour in day (0-23) | `0` | | `k` | Hour in day (1-24) | `24` | | `K` | Hour in am/pm (0-11) | `0` | | `h` | Hour in am/pm (1-12) | `12` | | `m` | Minute in hour | `30` | | `s` | Second in minute | `55` | | `S` | Millisecond | `978` | | `z` | Time zone | `Pacific Standard Time`; `PST`; `GMT-08:00` | | `Z` | Time zone | `-0800` | | `X` | Time zone | `-08`; `-0800`; `-08:00` | **Examples** The following examples show how date and time patterns are interpreted in the U.S. locale. The given date and time are 2001-07-04 12:08:56 local time in the U.S. Pacific Time time zone. | Date and Time Pattern | Result | | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | `"yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z"` | `2001.07.04 AD at 12:08:56 PDT` | | `"EEE, MMM d, ''yy"` | `Wed, Jul 4, '01` | | `"h:mm a"` | `12:08 PM` | | `"hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz"` | `12 o'clock PM, Pacific Daylight Time` | | `"K:mm a, z"` | `0:08 PM, PDT` | | `"yyyyy.MMMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa"` | `02001.July.04 AD 12:08 PM` | | `"EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z"` | `Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:08:56 -0700` | | `"yyMMddHHmmssZ"` | `010704120856-0700` | | `"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ"` | `2001-07-04T12:08:56.235-0700` | | `"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSXXX"` | `2001-07-04T12:08:56.235-07:00` | | `"YYYY-'W'ww-u"` | `2001-W27-3` | reference: