Given the input `Jan 1, 2000 12:00 PM`, and the fo...

# random

[ddsoyka]

Given the input Jan 1, 2000 12:00 PM, and the formats MMM d, y h:mm a & MMM d, y HH:mm, my question is: why do both formats match the input using SimpleDateFormat?

[nkiesel]

Because the SimpleDateFormat parser ignores "extra stuff" at the end. Change "PM" to "AM" and you will get 2 different timestamps.
BTW: you should really use FastDateFormat