diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DateTimeFormatterHelper.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DateTimeFormatterHelper.scala
index b00113b2e9ee3..cb03ab2ee4aae 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DateTimeFormatterHelper.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DateTimeFormatterHelper.scala
@@ -279,7 +279,11 @@ private object DateTimeFormatterHelper {
   // localized, for the default Locale.US, it uses Sunday as the first day of week, while in Spark
   // 2.4, the SimpleDateFormat uses Monday as the first day of week.
   final val weekBasedLetters = Set('Y', 'W', 'w', 'u', 'e', 'c')
-  final val unsupportedLetters = Set('A', 'n', 'N', 'p')
+  // SPARK-36970: `select date_format('2018-11-17 13:33:33.333', 'B')` failed with Java 8,
+  // but use Java 17 will return `in the afternoon` because 'B' is used to represent
+  // `Pattern letters to output a day period` in Java 17. So there manual disabled `B` for
+  // compatibility with Java 8 behavior.
+  final val unsupportedLetters = Set('A', 'B', 'n', 'N', 'p')
   // The quarter fields will also be parsed strangely, e.g. when the pattern contains `yMd` and can
   // be directly resolved then the `q` do check for whether the month is valid, but if the date
   // fields is incomplete, e.g. `yM`, the checking will be bypassed.
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DatetimeFormatterSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DatetimeFormatterSuite.scala
index 0640dc7a16edb..332568ab2d71a 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DatetimeFormatterSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/DatetimeFormatterSuite.scala
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ trait DatetimeFormatterSuite extends SparkFunSuite with SQLHelper with Matchers
 
     Seq(true, false).foreach { isParsing =>
       // not support by the legacy one too
-      val unsupportedBoth = Seq("QQQQQ", "qqqqq", "eeeee", "A", "c", "n", "N", "p", "e")
+      val unsupportedBoth = Seq("QQQQQ", "qqqqq", "eeeee", "A", "B", "c", "n", "N", "p", "e")
       unsupportedBoth.foreach { pattern =>
         intercept[IllegalArgumentException](checkFormatterCreation(pattern, isParsing))
       }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/resources/sql-tests/results/datetime-formatting-invalid.sql.out b/sql/core/src/test/resources/sql-tests/results/datetime-formatting-invalid.sql.out
index 18d1a10068794..9c8553dc0f01f 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/resources/sql-tests/results/datetime-formatting-invalid.sql.out
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/resources/sql-tests/results/datetime-formatting-invalid.sql.out
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ select date_format('2018-11-17 13:33:33.333', 'B')
 struct<>
 -- !query output
 java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
-Unknown pattern letter: B
+Illegal pattern character: B
 
 
 -- !query