Standard ISO 8601 format is used by your input string.
Instant.parse ( "2011-08-12T20:17:46.384Z" )
This format is defined by the sensible practical standard, ISO 8601.
T separates the date portion from the time-of-day portion. The
Z on the end means UTC (that is, an offset-from-UTC of zero hours-minutes-seconds). The
Z is pronounced “Zulu”.
The old date-time classes bundled with the earliest versions of Java have proven to be poorly designed, confusing, and troublesome. Avoid them.
Instead, use the java.time framework built into Java 8 and later. The java.time classes supplant both the old date-time classes and the highly successful Joda-Time library.
The java.time classes use ISO 8601 by default when parsing/generating textual representations of date-time values.
Instant class represents a moment on the timeline in UTC with a resolution of nanoseconds. That class can directly parse your input string without bothering to define a formatting pattern.
Instant instant = Instant.parse ( "2011-08-12T20:17:46.384Z" ) ;
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as
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. Hibernate 5 & JPA 2.2 support java.time.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?