title: Read Date as string from excel using apache poi
body: <p>I am trying to use apache poi library for reading the excel. I want to convert the date field to String value. Hence I used the following code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>if(cell.getCellType()==Cell.CELL_TYPE_NUMERIC){
      if(DateUtil.isCellDateFormatted(cell)){
         DataFormatter df = new DataFormatter();
         FormulaEvaluator fe = Workbook.getCreationHelper().createFormulaEvaluator();
         String str= formatter.formatCellValue(cell, fe);
         return str;
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am getting Dates in weird form that is &lt;3/12/[]15>. The cell value id 3/12/2015. Can anyone please guide me in this.</p>