How to sanity check a date in Java

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tl;dr

Use the strict mode on java.time.DateTimeFormatter to parse a LocalDate. Trap for the DateTimeParseException.

LocalDate.parse(                   // Represent a date-only value, without time-of-day and without time zone.
    "31/02/2000" ,                 // Input string.
    DateTimeFormatter              // Define a formatting pattern to match your input string.
    .ofPattern ( "dd/MM/uuuu" )
    .withResolverStyle ( ResolverStyle.STRICT )  // Specify leniency in tolerating questionable inputs.
)

After parsing, you might check for reasonable value. For example, a birth date within last one hundred years.

birthDate.isAfter( LocalDate.now().minusYears( 100 ) )

Avoid legacy date-time classes

Avoid using the troublesome old date-time classes shipped with the earliest versions of Java. Now supplanted by the java.time classes.

LocalDate & DateTimeFormatter & ResolverStyle

The LocalDate class represents a date-only value without time-of-day and without time zone.

String input = "31/02/2000";
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern ( "dd/MM/uuuu" );
try {
    LocalDate ld = LocalDate.parse ( input , f );
    System.out.println ( "ld: " + ld );
} catch ( DateTimeParseException e ) {
    System.out.println ( "ERROR: " + e );
}

The java.time.DateTimeFormatter class can be set to parse strings with any of three leniency modes defined in the ResolverStyle enum. We insert a line into the above code to try each of the modes.

f = f.withResolverStyle ( ResolverStyle.LENIENT );

The results:

  • ResolverStyle.LENIENT
    ld: 2000-03-02
  • ResolverStyle.SMART
    ld: 2000-02-29
  • ResolverStyle.STRICT
    ERROR: java.time.format.DateTimeParseException: Text ’31/02/2000′ could not be parsed: Invalid date ‘FEBRUARY 31’

We can see that in ResolverStyle.LENIENT mode, the invalid date is moved forward an equivalent number of days. In ResolverStyle.SMART mode (the default), a logical decision is made to keep the date within the month and going with the last possible day of the month, Feb 29 in a leap year, as there is no 31st day in that month. The ResolverStyle.STRICT mode throws an exception complaining that there is no such date.

All three of these are reasonable depending on your business problem and policies. Sounds like in your case you want the strict mode to reject the invalid date rather than adjust it.

Table of all date-time types in Java, both modern and legacy.

About java.time

The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.

To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.

The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.

You may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. Use a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later. No need for strings, no need for java.sql.* classes.

Where to obtain the java.time classes?

  • Java SE 8, Java SE 9, Java SE 10, Java SE 11, and later – Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
    • Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
  • Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
    • Most of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
  • Android
    • Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
    • For earlier Android (<26), the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….

Table of which java.time library to use with which version of Java or Android

The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.

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