diff -r 6bc1de3b8c59 -r 89deac44e515 src/java.base/share/classes/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.java --- a/src/java.base/share/classes/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.java Fri Nov 24 14:07:59 2017 +0100 +++ b/src/java.base/share/classes/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.java Thu Nov 30 13:31:30 2017 +0530 @@ -942,8 +942,19 @@ * * @param date the date-time value to be formatted into a date-time string. * @param toAppendTo where the new date-time text is to be appended. - * @param pos the formatting position. On input: an alignment field, - * if desired. On output: the offsets of the alignment field. + * @param pos keeps track on the position of the field within + * the returned string. For example, given a date-time text + * {@code "1996.07.10 AD at 15:08:56 PDT"}, if the given {@code fieldPosition} + * is {@link DateFormat#YEAR_FIELD}, the begin index and end index of + * {@code fieldPosition} will be set to 0 and 4, respectively. + * Notice that if the same date-time field appears more than once in a + * pattern, the {@code fieldPosition} will be set for the first occurrence + * of that date-time field. For instance, formatting a {@code Date} to the + * date-time string {@code "1 PM PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)"} using the + * pattern {@code "h a z (zzzz)"} and the alignment field + * {@link DateFormat#TIMEZONE_FIELD}, the begin index and end index of + * {@code fieldPosition} will be set to 5 and 8, respectively, for the + * first occurrence of the timezone pattern character {@code 'z'}. * @return the formatted date-time string. * @exception NullPointerException if any of the parameters is {@code null}. */