Question: how would you write te date if i have a date and all i want is the month and the day like this (mm/dd) and then turn the month like this July, 08

Answer: 
The [SimpleDateFormat](http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html) is your friend here. If you already have a `java.util.Date` object, just format it using the desired *pattern* (refer to the javadoc for details on date and time patterns):

```
SimpleDateFormat out = new SimpleDateFormat("MMMM, dd");
String s = out.format(date); // date is your existing Date object here

```

(EDIT: I'm adding some details as the original question is unclear and I may have missed the real goal.

If you have a `String` representation of a date in a given format (e.g. MM/dd) and want to transform the representation, you'll need 2 `SimpleDateFormat` as pointed out by others: one to parse the `String` into a `Date` and another one to format the `Date`.

```
SimpleDateFormat in = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd");
Date date = in.parse(dateAsString); // dateAsString is your String representation here

```

Then use the code snippet seen above to format it.)
> 
> the month and the day like this (mm/dd) and then turn the month like this July, 08
> 
> 
> 

So you want to convert `MM/dd` to `MMMM, dd`? So you start with a `String` and you end up with a `String`? Then you need another `SimpleDateFormat` instance with the first pattern.

```
String dateString1 = "07/08";
Date date = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd").parse(dateString1);
String dateString2 = new SimpleDateFormat("MMMM, dd").format(date);
System.out.println(dateString2); // July, 08 (monthname depends on locale!).

```