The class also provides two methods to map between its constants and the corresponding Calendar constants. 

Subclasses should initialize this field to a Calendar appropriate for the Locale associated with this DateFormat.

serial:

serial:

 protected DateFormat() 
{

}

Create a new date format.

 public Object clone() 
{
        DateFormat other = (DateFormat) super.clone();
        other.calendar = (Calendar) calendar.clone();
        other.numberFormat = (NumberFormat) numberFormat.clone();
        return other;
}

Overrides Cloneable

 public boolean equals(Object obj) 
{
        if (this == obj) return true;
        if (obj == null || getClass() != obj.getClass()) return false;
        DateFormat other = (DateFormat) obj;
        return (// calendar.equivalentTo(other.calendar) // THIS API DOESN'T EXIST YET!
                calendar.getFirstDayOfWeek() == other.calendar.getFirstDayOfWeek() &&
                calendar.getMinimalDaysInFirstWeek() == other.calendar.getMinimalDaysInFirstWeek() &&
                calendar.isLenient() == other.calendar.isLenient() &&
                calendar.getTimeZone().equals(other.calendar.getTimeZone()) &&
                numberFormat.equals(other.numberFormat));
}

Overrides equals

 public final String format(Date date) 
{
        return format(date, new StringBuffer(),
                      DontCareFieldPosition.INSTANCE).toString();
}

Formats a Date into a date/time string.

 public final StringBuffer format(Object obj,
    StringBuffer toAppendTo,
    FieldPosition fieldPosition) 
{
        if (obj instanceof Date)
            return format( (Date)obj, toAppendTo, fieldPosition );
        else if (obj instanceof Number)
            return format( new Date(((Number)obj).longValue()),
                          toAppendTo, fieldPosition );
        else
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot format given Object as a Date");
}

Overrides Format. Formats a time object into a time string. Examples of time objects are a time value expressed in milliseconds and a Date object.

 abstract public StringBuffer format(Date date,
    StringBuffer toAppendTo,
    FieldPosition fieldPosition)
Formats a Date into a date/time string.

 public static Locale[] getAvailableLocales() 
{
        LocaleServiceProviderPool pool =
            LocaleServiceProviderPool.getPool(DateFormatProvider.class);
        return pool.getAvailableLocales();
}

Returns an array of all locales for which the get*Instance methods of this class can return localized instances. The returned array represents the union of locales supported by the Java runtime and by installed DateFormatProvider implementations. It must contain at least a Locale instance equal to Locale.US .

 public Calendar getCalendar() 
{
        return calendar;
}

Gets the calendar associated with this date/time formatter.

 public static final DateFormat getDateInstance() 
{
        return get(0, DEFAULT, 2, Locale.getDefault(Locale.Category.FORMAT));
}

Gets the date formatter with the default formatting style for the default locale.

 public static final DateFormat getDateInstance(int style) 
{
        return get(0, style, 2, Locale.getDefault(Locale.Category.FORMAT));
}

Gets the date formatter with the given formatting style for the default locale.

 public static final DateFormat getDateInstance(int style,
    Locale aLocale) 
{
        return get(0, style, 2, aLocale);
}

Gets the date formatter with the given formatting style for the given locale.

 public static final DateFormat getDateTimeInstance() 
{
        return get(DEFAULT, DEFAULT, 3, Locale.getDefault(Locale.Category.FORMAT));
}

Gets the date/time formatter with the default formatting style for the default locale.

 public static final DateFormat getDateTimeInstance(int dateStyle,
    int timeStyle) 
{
        return get(timeStyle, dateStyle, 3, Locale.getDefault(Locale.Category.FORMAT));
}

Gets the date/time formatter with the given date and time formatting styles for the default locale.

 public static final DateFormat getDateTimeInstance(int dateStyle,
    int timeStyle,
    Locale aLocale) 
{
        return get(timeStyle, dateStyle, 3, aLocale);
}

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

 public static final DateFormat getInstance() 
{
        return getDateTimeInstance(SHORT, SHORT);
}

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

 public NumberFormat getNumberFormat() 
{
        return numberFormat;
}

Gets the number formatter which this date/time formatter uses to format and parse a time.

 public static final DateFormat getTimeInstance() 
{
        return get(DEFAULT, 0, 1, Locale.getDefault(Locale.Category.FORMAT));
}

Gets the time formatter with the default formatting style for the default locale.

 public static final DateFormat getTimeInstance(int style) 
{
        return get(style, 0, 1, Locale.getDefault(Locale.Category.FORMAT));
}

Gets the time formatter with the given formatting style for the default locale.

 public static final DateFormat getTimeInstance(int style,
    Locale aLocale) 
{
        return get(style, 0, 1, aLocale);
}

Gets the time formatter with the given formatting style for the given locale.

 public TimeZone getTimeZone() 
{
        return calendar.getTimeZone();
}

Gets the time zone. This method is equivalent to the following call.

 getCalendar().getTimeZone()

 public int hashCode() 
{
        return numberFormat.hashCode();
        // just enough fields for a reasonable distribution
}

Overrides hashCode

 public boolean isLenient() 
{
        return calendar.isLenient();
}

Tell whether date/time parsing is to be lenient. This method is equivalent to the following call.

 getCalendar().isLenient()

 public Date parse(String source) throws ParseException 
{
        ParsePosition pos = new ParsePosition(0);
        Date result = parse(source, pos);
        if (pos.index == 0)
            throw new ParseException("Unparseable date: \"" + source + "\"" ,
                pos.errorIndex);
        return result;
}

Parses text from the beginning of the given string to produce a date. The method may not use the entire text of the given string.

See the #parse(String, ParsePosition) method for more information on date parsing.

 abstract public Date parse(String source,
    ParsePosition pos)
Parse a date/time string according to the given parse position.  For
example, a time text {@code "07/10/96 4:5 PM, PDT"} will be parsed into a {@code Date}
that is equivalent to {@code Date(837039900000L)}.

 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) .

This parsing operation uses the #calendar  to produce
a {@code Date}. As a result, the {@code calendar}'s date-time
fields and the {@code TimeZone} value may have been
overwritten, depending on subclass implementations. Any {@code
TimeZone} value that has previously been set by a call to
 setTimeZone  may need
to be restored for further operations.

 public Object parseObject(String source,
    ParsePosition pos) 
{
        return parse(source, pos);
}

Parses text from a string to produce a Date.

The method attempts to parse text starting at the index given by pos. If parsing succeeds, then the index of pos is updated to the index after the last character used (parsing does not necessarily use all characters up to the end of the string), and the parsed date is returned. The updated pos can be used to indicate the starting point for the next call to this method. If an error occurs, then the index of pos is not changed, the error index of pos is set to the index of the character where the error occurred, and null is returned.

See the #parse(String, ParsePosition) method for more information on date parsing.

 public  void setCalendar(Calendar newCalendar) 
{
        this.calendar = newCalendar;
}

Set the calendar to be used by this date format. Initially, the default calendar for the specified or default locale is used.

Any TimeZone and {@linkplain #isLenient() leniency} values that have previously been set are overwritten by {@code newCalendar}'s values.

 public  void setLenient(boolean lenient) 
{
        calendar.setLenient(lenient);
}

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.

This method is equivalent to the following call.

 getCalendar().setLenient(lenient)

This leniency value is overwritten by a call to setCalendar() .

 public  void setNumberFormat(NumberFormat newNumberFormat) 
{
        this.numberFormat = newNumberFormat;
}

Allows you to set the number formatter.

 public  void setTimeZone(TimeZone zone) 
{
        calendar.setTimeZone(zone);
}

Sets the time zone for the calendar of this {@code DateFormat} object. This method is equivalent to the following call.

 getCalendar().setTimeZone(zone)

The {@code TimeZone} set by this method is overwritten by a setCalendar call.

The {@code TimeZone} set by this method may be overwritten as a result of a call to the parse method.