Convert string to LocalDate in Java 8+

DateConversion.java

  /**
   * Performs date validation and conversion of String to LocalDate.<br/> 
   * If valid, then date string is converted to LocalDate.
   * @param input Date string in format. 
   * @return the LocalDate.
   */
  public static LocalDate toDate(String date) {
    if (date == null || date.trim().length() == 0) {
      throw new RuntimeException("Date input can't be null.");
    }
    
    DateTimeFormatter formatter = null;
    LocalDate localDate = null;    

    try {
      formatter = new DateTimeFormatterBuilder()
          .appendPattern("[dd/MM/yyyy]")
          .appendPattern("[dd/MM/yy]")
          .appendPattern("[dd/M/yyyy]")          
          .appendPattern("[dd/M/yy]")
          .appendPattern("[d/MM/yyyy]")
          .appendPattern("[d/MM/yy]")
          .appendPattern("[d/M/yyyy]")
          .appendPattern("[d/M/yy]")          
          .toFormatter();
      
      localDate = LocalDate.parse(date.trim(), formatter);    
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new RuntimeException("Date is invalid. " 
          + "It could be out of bounds. Please correct the format. "
          + "Accepted formats are dd/MM/yyyy, dd/MM/yy, dd/M/yyyy, dd/M/yy "
          + "d/MM/yyyy, d/MM/yy, d/M/yyyy, d/M/yy. " + e);
    }

    return localDate;    
  }

// Note: This is how you get the current date/time in ISO8601 format in UTC (Zulu) timezone
// private String dateTimeNowInISO = ZonedDateTime.now().format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT);
// output: 2018-01-16T20:17:02.186Z