Name: nt126004			Date: 02/25/2003


FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.4.0"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.0-b92)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.0-b92, mixed mode)


FULL OPERATING SYSTEM VERSION :
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

ADDITIONAL OPERATING SYSTEMS :
I think this also happen on Solaris, but I only had the
IBM JDK to test with there.


A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Because of the "greedy" way the numeric parsing works
inside SimpleDateFormat.parse, it's not possible to embed
certain literal characters.  Here is an example:

In Locale "ar_EG" (Arabic Egypt), you can't use literal
dashes as separators for date components because the first
dash gets "eaten" as part of parsing the first integer
(Arabic locales put numeric signs to the right of the
digits).

It doesn't help if you surround the dash with 'single
quotes' in the pattern.


STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Run the source code provided below.  I don't know if you
have to do something to make sure you have a Locale
for "ar_EG" installed on your machine.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
Expect to parse the date into constituent parts, but
instead get an exception.

CAUGHT java.text.ParseException: Unparseable date: "2002-
12,83.567", errorOffset = 5


ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
java.text.ParseException: Unparseable date: "2002-12,83.567"
	at java.text.DateFormat.parse(DateFormat.java:324)
	at org.carpenter.bill.CreTe.demoDateBug(CreTe.java:3093)


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;
public class Test {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		String s = "2002-12,83.567";
        System.out.println("DATE 0: " + s);
        String pattern = "yyyy'-'mm','ss'.'SSS";
        SimpleDateFormat sdf;
        Date date = null;


        Locale.setDefault(new Locale("ar", "EG"));
        sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);
        try
        {
            date = sdf.parse(s);
            System.out.println("DATE 1: " + date + " --> " + date.getTime());
        }
        catch (ParseException pe)
        {
            System.out.println("CAUGHT " + pe + ", errorOffset = " +
pe.getErrorOffset());
            pe.printStackTrace();
        }
	}
}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER WORKAROUND :
I have not found one.
(Review ID: 181728) 
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