how to format time using java with flex? try { String str_date = "Sat Aug 4 13:10:00 GMT+0530 2012"; DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat( "EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzzz yyyy"); Date date = (Date) formatter.parse(str_date); System.out.println(date); } catch (ParseException e) { System.out.println("Exception :" + e); } `Exception :java.text.ParseException: Unparseable date: "Sat Aug 4 13:10:00 GMT+0530 2012"` DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss 'GMT'Z yyyy");