source: josm/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/DateParser.java@ 113

package org.openstreetmap.josm.tools;

import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

/**
 * Tries to parse a date as good as it can.
 * 
 * @author Immanuel.Scholz
 */
public class DateParser {

        private static final String[] formats = {
                "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'",
                "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ",
                "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss",
                "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'",
                "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ",
                "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss",
                "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss",
                "MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'",
                "MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ",
                "MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS",
                "MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ssZ",
                "MM/dd/yyyy'T'HH:mm:ss",
                "yyyy:MM:dd HH:mm:ss", // unfcklvble, but I have seen this...
        };
        
        public static Date parse(String d) throws ParseException {
                // first try to fix ruby's broken xmlschema - format
                Matcher m = Pattern.compile("(....-..-..T..:..:..[+-]..):(..)").matcher(d);
                if (m.matches())
                        d = m.group(1) + m.group(2);

                for (String parse : formats) {
                        SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(parse);
                        try {return sdf.parse(d);} catch (ParseException pe) {}
                }
                throw new ParseException("", 0);
        }
}