java - jodatime -> parse error utc datetime string -

currently, i'm trying parse datetime using jodatime library.

string stringliteral = "09/05/2016 12:25:39" try {   datetime utcdatetime = new datetime(stringliteral, datetimezone.utc);   this.expressiontype = expressionenumtype.date;   this.expressions.add(constantimpl.create(utcdatetime.todate())); } catch (illegalargumentexception e) {   this.expressiontype = expressionenumtype.string;   this.expressions.add(constantimpl.create(stringliteral)); } 

however, jodatime tells me:

java.lang.illegalargumentexception: invalid format: "09/05/2016 12:25:39" malformed @ "/05/2016 12:25:39"

the constructor of datetime cannot parse string in arbitrary format datetime object. if want use constructor in way, string must in 1 of iso 8601 formats, , string "09/05/2016 12:25:39" not.

use method parse date, can specify format yourself. example:

datetimeformatter formatter = datetimeformat.forpattern("dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss")                                             .withzoneutc();  datetime utcdatetime = datetime.parse(stringliteral, formatter);