Let me throw out some example code that I got from http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/ehchua/programming/java/DateTimeCalendar.html Then you can play around with different options until you understand it.
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
public class DateTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Date now = new Date();
//This is just Date's toString method and doesn't involve SimpleDateFormat
System.out.println("toString(): " + now); // dow mon dd hh:mm:ss zzz yyyy
//Shows "Mon Oct 08 08:17:06 EDT 2012"
SimpleDateFormat dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat("E, y-M-d 'at' h:m:s a z");
System.out.println("Format 1: " + dateFormatter.format(now));
// Shows "Mon, 2012-10-8 at 8:17:6 AM EDT"
dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat("E yyyy.MM.dd 'at' hh:mm:ss a zzz");
System.out.println("Format 2: " + dateFormatter.format(now));
// Shows "Mon 2012.10.08 at 08:17:06 AM EDT"
dateFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE, MMMM d, yyyy");
System.out.println("Format 3: " + dateFormatter.format(now));
// Shows "Monday, October 8, 2012"
// SimpleDateFormat can be used to control the date/time display format:
// E (day of week): 3E or fewer (in text xxx), >3E (in full text)
// M (month): M (in number), MM (in number with leading zero)
// 3M: (in text xxx), >3M: (in full text full)
// h (hour): h, hh (with leading zero)
// m (minute)
// s (second)
// a (AM/PM)
// H (hour in 0 to 23)
// z (time zone)
// (there may be more listed under the API - I didn't check)
}
}
Good luck!