# How to convert LocalDateTime to string in Java

By Atta Ur Rehman Shah (https://attacomsian.com/about). Published Dec 30, 2019, updated Oct 14, 2022. Topics: Java.
Canonical URL: https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-format-localdatetime

> A quick tutorial to learn how to format an instance of LocalDateTime in Java.

[Java 8 new date and time API](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-new-date-time-api#localdate-class) introduced the `LocalDateTime` class that **represents both local date and time without timezone** information in ISO-8601 format (`yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss`).

The `LocalDateTime` is the most popular class from Java 8 new data and time API for storing dates and times together. It provides a broad range of utility methods for different types of date and time operations.

In this quick tutorial, you'll **learn how to format** an instance of `LocalDateTime` to a date-time string in Java 8. Just like [`LocalDate`](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-format-localdate ) class, `LocalDateTime` also provides `format()` method that accepts an instance of `DateTimeFormatter` as an argument to format *this* instance using the specified format:

```java
public String format(DateTimeFormatter formatter)
```

A `DateTimeFormatter` instance specifies the pattern used to format the date and should not be null. `format()` returns the formatted date-time string if the specified pattern is valid.

The following example demonstrates how you can get the [current LocalDateTime instance](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-get-current-date-time#localdatetime-class) and then use the `format()` method to convert it into a date-time string:

```java
// current date and time
LocalDateTime now = LocalDateTime.now();

// format date-time to string
String dateStr = now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("EEEE, MMMM dd, yyyy hh:mm:ss a"));

// print date strings
System.out.println("Current Date & Time (before): " + now);
System.out.println("Formatted Date & Time (after): " + dateStr);
```

The above example code will output the following:

```bash
Current Date & Time (before): 2019-12-30T17:00:41.375
Formatted Date & Time (after): Monday, December 30, 2019 05:00:41 PM
```

You can also [convert a string to LocalDateTime](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-convert-string-to-date#convert-string-to-localdatetime) and then use the `format()` method to **change the date-time string format** as shown below:

```java
// old date-time string
String oldStr = "12/23/2019 14:55";

// parse old string to date-time
LocalDateTime dateTime = LocalDateTime.parse(oldStr, DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm"));

// format date-time to string
String newStr = dateTime.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMMM dd, yyyy hh:mm a"));

// print both strings
System.out.println("Date & Time Format (before): " + oldStr);
System.out.println("Date & Time Format (after): " + newStr);
```

Now the output should look like the below:

```bash
Date & Time Format (before): 12/23/2019 14:55
Date & Time Format (after): December 23, 2019 02:55 PM
```

Check out [How to format a date to string in Java](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-date-format-to-string) tutorial for more Java 8 new date and time API formatting and parsing examples.