question: public static Date parseDateString ( String dateString , java . util . Locale locale , String dateSyntax ) { if ( debug . messageEnabled ( ) ) { debug . message ( "Local.parseDateString(date, locale, syntax)" ) ; debug . message ( "date string = " + dateString ) ; debug . message ( "date syntax = " + dateSyntax ) ; debug . message ( "locale = " + locale . toString ( ) ) ; } if ( ( dateString == null ) || ( dateString . length ( ) < 1 ) || ( dateSyntax == null ) || ( dateSyntax . length ( ) < 1 ) ) { return null ; } SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat ( dateSyntax ) ; sdf . setLenient ( false ) ; ParsePosition pos = new ParsePosition ( 0 ) ; Date date = sdf . parse ( dateString , pos ) ; if ( date == null ) { debug . warning ( "Locale.parseDateString: unable to parse the date." ) ; } return date ; }
target:  Gets Date object from date string with specified locale.