Java SimpleDateFormat timezone parsing -

i'm curious how java's simpledateformat decides when increment/decrement passed in time based on timezone it's set to.

let's have date 06/04/2013. set timezone 1 far away me(i'm in gmt-5). let's use gmt+8.

i call

simpledateformat df = new simpledateformat( "m/d/yy" ); df.settimezone( timezone.gettimezone( "gmt+8" ) ); df.parse( enddate ) // returns 06/**03**/2013  //enddate string 

it returns 06/03/2013. why decrement it?

edit: i'm asking reference point java uses knock date 6/3 if set gmt+8. there's logic says hey i'm not on current timezone let's change it. since i'm passing in string don't see be.

i assume default if don't provide timezone in string default gmt.

you're in gmt-5, , you're parsing string representing moment in gmt+8 time zone.

so, date 06/04/2013 in fact 06/04/2013 00:00 gmt+8. date @ gmt, have subtract 8 hours: 06/03/2013 16:00 gmt. , date @ gmt-5, have subtract 5 hours: 06/03/2013 11:00 gmt-5.

all these strings different representations of same moment.