JSTL - Core <fmt:formatDate> Tag

The <fmt:formatDate> tag is used to format dates in a variety of ways.

Attribute

The <fmt:formatDate> tag has the following attributes −

Attribute	Description	Required	Default
Value	Date value to display	Yes	None
type	DATE, TIME, or BOTH	No	date
dateStyle	FULL, LONG, MEDIUM, SHORT, or DEFAULT	No	default
timeStyle	FULL, LONG, MEDIUM, SHORT, or DEFAULT	No	default
pattern	Custom formatting pattern	No	None
timeZone	Time zone of the displayed date	No	Default time zone
var	Name of the variable to store the formatted date	No	Print to page
scope	Scope of the variable to store the formatted date	No	page

The pattern attribute is used to specify even more precise handling of the date −

Code	Purpose	Sample
G	The era designator	AD
y	The year	2002
M	The month	April & 04
d	The day of the month	20
h	The hour(12-hour time)	12
H	The hour(24-hour time)	0
m	The minute	45
s	The second	52
S	The millisecond	970
E	The day of the week	Tuesday
D	The day of the year	180
F	The day of the week in the month	2 (2nd Wed in month)
w	The week in the year	27
W	The week in the month	2
a	The a.m./p.m. indicator	PM
k	The hour(12-hour time)	24
K	The hour(24-hour time)	0
z	The time zone	Central Standard Time
'		The escape for text
''		The single quote

Example

<%@ taglib prefix = "c" uri = "http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<%@ taglib prefix = "fmt" uri = "http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/fmt" %>

<html>
   <head>
      <title>JSTL fmt:dateNumber Tag</title>
   </head>

   <body>
      <h3>Number Format:</h3>
      <c:set var = "now" value = "<% = new java.util.Date()%>" />

      <p>Formatted Date (1): <fmt:formatDate type = "time" 
         value = "${now}" /></p>
      
      <p>Formatted Date (2): <fmt:formatDate type = "date" 
         value = "${now}" /></p>
      
      <p>Formatted Date (3): <fmt:formatDate type = "both" 
         value = "${now}" /></p>
      
      <p>Formatted Date (4): <fmt:formatDate type = "both" 
         dateStyle = "short" timeStyle = "short" value = "${now}" /></p>
      
      <p>Formatted Date (5): <fmt:formatDate type = "both" 
         dateStyle = "medium" timeStyle = "medium" value = "${now}" /></p>
      
      <p>Formatted Date (6): <fmt:formatDate type = "both" 
         dateStyle = "long" timeStyle = "long" value = "${now}" /></p>
      
      <p>Formatted Date (7): <fmt:formatDate pattern = "yyyy-MM-dd" 
         value = "${now}" /></p>

   </body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result −

Date Format:
Formatted Date (1): 14:27:18
Formatted Date (2): 23-Sep-2010
Formatted Date (3): 23-Sep-2010 14:27:18
Formatted Date (4): 23/09/10 14:27
Formatted Date (5): 23-Sep-2010 14:27:18
Formatted Date (6): 23 September 2010 14:27:18 GST
Formatted Date (7): 2010-09-23

jsp_standard_tag_library.htm