title: Java Date Class NullPointerException
body: <p>I am trying to set and return the earliest date from a string and I think I am missing something when setting my date as I keep getting a nullreferenceexception whenever I try to set the values for Date.  Thanks for any help</p>
  
  <pre><code>private static Date createDate(String input)
  {
      Date date = null;
  
      if (input == null)
          return null;
  
      // Split formatted input into separate values
      String tempDates[] = input.split(dateSep);
  
      // Store values as integers
      int[] dateValues = {0, 0, 0};
      dateValues[0] = Integer.parseInt(tempDates[0]);
      dateValues[1] = Integer.parseInt(tempDates[1]);
      dateValues[2] = Integer.parseInt(tempDates[2]);
  
      // Sort integers from lowest to highest
      Arrays.sort(dateValues);
  
      // Set return date
      date.setMonth(dateValues[0]);
      date.setDate(dateValues[1]);
      date.setYear(dateValues[2]);
  
  
      System.out.println(date);
      // Checking basic date restrictions
      if (date.getMonth() &lt;= 0 || date.getMonth() &gt; 12)
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Month is not valid " + month);
  
      if (date.getDay() &lt;= 0 || date.getDay() &gt; 31)
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Day is not valid " + day);
  
      if (date.getYear() &lt;= 0)
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Year is not valid " + year);
  
  
      return date;
  }
  
  }
  </code></pre>