Date formats may contain the following items:
| Letter for Pattern | Date or Time component | Examples |
| G | Era designator | AD |
| y | Year (yyyy) or yy | 2023 or 23 |
| M | Month in year | July (MMMM), Jul (MMM), 07 (MM) |
| w | Week in year | 16 |
| W | Week in month | 3 |
| D | Day count in year | 256 |
| d | Day in month | 09 (dd), 9(d) |
| F | Day if week in month | 4 |
| E | Day name in week | Tuesday, Tue |
| u | Day number in week where 1 is Monday etc. | 2 |
| a | AM or PM marker | AM |
| H | Hour in day (0-23) | 12 |
| k | Hour in day (1-24) | 23 |
| K | Hour in am/pm for 12 hour format (0-11) | 0 |
| h | Hour in am/pm in 12 hour format (1-12) | 12 |
| m | Minute in hour | 59 |
| s | Second in minute | 35 |
| S | Millisecond in minute | 978 |
| z | Timezone Pacific Standard Time | PST; GMT-08:00 |
| Z | Timezone offset in hours (RFC pattern) | -0800 |
| X | Timezone offset in ISO format -08 | 0800; -08:00 |
Some letters can be used in different amount for different results like for month:
| Type | Pattern | Example |
| Full Month | MMMM | July |
| Abbreviated Month | MMM | Jul |
| Numeric Month | MM | 07 |