Java provides the Date class available in java.util package, this class encapsulates the current date and time.
The Date class supports two constructors as shown in the following table.
Sr.No. Constructor & Description 1Date( )
This constructor initializes the object with the current date and time.
2Date(long millisec)
This constructor accepts an argument that equals the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since midnight, January 1, 1970.
Following are the methods of the date class.
Getting Current Date and TimeThis is a very easy method to get current date and time in Java. You can use a simple Date object with toString() method to print the current date and time as follows −
Exampleimport java.util.Date; public class DateDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { // Instantiate a Date object Date date = new Date(); // display time and date using toString() System.out.println(date.toString()); } }
This will produce the following result −
Outputon May 04 09:51:52 CDT 2009Date Comparison
Following are the three ways to compare two dates −
You can use getTime( ) to obtain the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since midnight, January 1, 1970, for both objects and then compare these two values.
You can use the methods before( ), after( ), and equals( ). Because the 12th of the month comes before the 18th, for example, new Date(99, 2, 12).before(new Date (99, 2, 18)) returns true.
You can use the compareTo( ) method, which is defined by the Comparable interface and implemented by Date.
SimpleDateFormat is a concrete class for formatting and parsing dates in a locale-sensitive manner. SimpleDateFormat allows you to start by choosing any user-defined patterns for date-time formatting.
Exampleimport java.util.*; import java.text.*; public class DateDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { Date dNow = new Date( ); SimpleDateFormat ft = new SimpleDateFormat ("E yyyy.MM.dd 'at' hh:mm:ss a zzz"); System.out.println("Current Date: " + ft.format(dNow)); } }
This will produce the following result −
OutputCurrent Date: Sun 2004.07.18 at 04:14:09 PM PDTSimple DateFormat Format Codes
To specify the time format, use a time pattern string. In this pattern, all ASCII letters are reserved as pattern letters, which are defined as the following −
Character Description Example G Era designator AD y Year in four digits 2001 M Month in year July or 07 d Day in month 10 h Hour in A.M./P.M. (1~12) 12 H Hour in day (0~23) 22 m Minute in hour 30 s Second in minute 55 S Millisecond 234 E Day in week Tuesday D Day in year 360 F Day of week in month 2 (second Wed. in July) w Week in year 40 W Week in month 1 a A.M./P.M. marker PM k Hour in day (1~24) 24 K Hour in A.M./P.M. (0~11) 10 z Time zone Eastern Standard Time ' Escape for text Delimiter " Single quote ` Date Formatting Using printfDate and time formatting can be done very easily using printf method. You use a two-letter format, starting with t and ending in one of the letters of the table as shown in the following code.
Exampleimport java.util.Date; public class DateDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { // Instantiate a Date object Date date = new Date(); // display time and date String str = String.format("Current Date/Time : %tc", date ); System.out.printf(str); } }
This will produce the following result −
OutputCurrent Date/Time : Sat Dec 15 16:37:57 MST 2012
It would be a bit silly if you had to supply the date multiple times to format each part. For that reason, a format string can indicate the index of the argument to be formatted.
The index must immediately follow the % and it must be terminated by a $.
Exampleimport java.util.Date; public class DateDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { // Instantiate a Date object Date date = new Date(); // display time and date System.out.printf("%1$s %2$tB %2$td, %2$tY", "Due date:", date); } }
This will produce the following result −
OutputDue date: February 09, 2004
Alternatively, you can use the < flag. It indicates that the same argument as in the preceding format specification should be used again.
Exampleimport java.util.Date; public class DateDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { // Instantiate a Date object Date date = new Date(); // display formatted date System.out.printf("%s %tB %<te, %<tY", "Due date:", date); } }
This will produce the following result −
OutputDue date: February 09, 2004Date and Time Conversion Characters Character Description Example c Complete date and time Mon May 04 09:51:52 CDT 2009 F ISO 8601 date 2004-02-09 D U.S. formatted date (month/day/year) 02/09/2004 T 24-hour time 18:05:19 r 12-hour time 06:05:19 pm R 24-hour time, no seconds 18:05 Y Four-digit year (with leading zeroes) 2004 y Last two digits of the year (with leading zeroes) 04 C First two digits of the year (with leading zeroes) 20 B Full month name February b Abbreviated month name Feb m Two-digit month (with leading zeroes) 02 d Two-digit day (with leading zeroes) 03 e Two-digit day (without leading zeroes) 9 A Full weekday name Monday a Abbreviated weekday name Mon j Three-digit day of year (with leading zeroes) 069 H Two-digit hour (with leading zeroes), between 00 and 23 18 k Two-digit hour (without leading zeroes), between 0 and 23 18 I Two-digit hour (with leading zeroes), between 01 and 12 06 l Two-digit hour (without leading zeroes), between 1 and 12 6 M Two-digit minutes (with leading zeroes) 05 S Two-digit seconds (with leading zeroes) 19 L Three-digit milliseconds (with leading zeroes) 047 N Nine-digit nanoseconds (with leading zeroes) 047000000 P Uppercase morning or afternoon marker PM p Lowercase morning or afternoon marker pm z RFC 822 numeric offset from GMT -0800 Z Time zone PST s Seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 GMT 1078884319 Q Milliseconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 GMT 1078884319047
There are other useful classes related to Date and time. For more details, you can refer to Java Standard documentation.
Parsing Strings into DatesThe SimpleDateFormat class has some additional methods, notably parse( ), which tries to parse a string according to the format stored in the given SimpleDateFormat object.
Exampleimport java.util.*; import java.text.*; public class DateDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { SimpleDateFormat ft = new SimpleDateFormat ("yyyy-MM-dd"); String input = args.length == 0 ? "1818-11-11" : args[0]; System.out.print(input + " Parses as "); Date t; try { t = ft.parse(input); System.out.println(t); } catch (ParseException e) { System.out.println("Unparseable using " + ft); } } }
A sample run of the above program would produce the following result −
Output1818-11-11 Parses as Wed Nov 11 00:00:00 EST 1818Sleeping for a While
You can sleep for any period of time from one millisecond up to the lifetime of your computer. For example, the following program would sleep for 3 seconds −
Exampleimport java.util.*; public class SleepDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { try { System.out.println(new Date( ) + "\n"); Thread.sleep(5*60*10); System.out.println(new Date( ) + "\n"); } catch (Exception e) { System.out.println("Got an exception!"); } } }
This will produce the following result −
OutputSun May 03 18:04:41 GMT 2009 Sun May 03 18:04:51 GMT 2009Measuring Elapsed Time
Sometimes, you may need to measure point in time in milliseconds. So let's re-write the above example once again −
Exampleimport java.util.*; public class DiffDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { try { long start = System.currentTimeMillis( ); System.out.println(new Date( ) + "\n"); Thread.sleep(5*60*10); System.out.println(new Date( ) + "\n"); long end = System.currentTimeMillis( ); long diff = end - start; System.out.println("Difference is : " + diff); } catch (Exception e) { System.out.println("Got an exception!"); } } }
This will produce the following result −
OutputSun May 03 18:16:51 GMT 2009 Sun May 03 18:16:57 GMT 2009 Difference is : 5993GregorianCalendar Class
GregorianCalendar is a concrete implementation of a Calendar class that implements the normal Gregorian calendar with which you are familiar. We did not discuss Calendar class in this tutorial, you can look up standard Java documentation for this.
The getInstance( ) method of Calendar returns a GregorianCalendar initialized with the current date and time in the default locale and time zone. GregorianCalendar defines two fields: AD and BC. These represent the two eras defined by the Gregorian calendar.
There are also several constructors for GregorianCalendar objects −
Sr.No. Constructor & Description 1GregorianCalendar()
Constructs a default GregorianCalendar using the current time in the default time zone with the default locale.
2GregorianCalendar(int year, int month, int date)
Constructs a GregorianCalendar with the given date set in the default time zone with the default locale.
3GregorianCalendar(int year, int month, int date, int hour, int minute)
Constructs a GregorianCalendar with the given date and time set for the default time zone with the default locale.
4GregorianCalendar(int year, int month, int date, int hour, int minute, int second)
Constructs a GregorianCalendar with the given date and time set for the default time zone with the default locale.
5GregorianCalendar(Locale aLocale)
Constructs a GregorianCalendar based on the current time in the default time zone with the given locale.
6GregorianCalendar(TimeZone zone)
Constructs a GregorianCalendar based on the current time in the given time zone with the default locale.
7GregorianCalendar(TimeZone zone, Locale aLocale)
Constructs a GregorianCalendar based on the current time in the given time zone with the given locale.
Here is the list of few useful support methods provided by GregorianCalendar class −
Sr.No. Method & Description 1void add(int field, int amount)
Adds the specified (signed) amount of time to the given time field, based on the calendar's rules.
2protected void computeFields()
Converts UTC as milliseconds to time field values.
3protected void computeTime()
Overrides Calendar Converts time field values to UTC as milliseconds.
4boolean equals(Object obj)
Compares this GregorianCalendar to an object reference.
5int get(int field)
Gets the value for a given time field.
6int getActualMaximum(int field)
Returns the maximum value that this field could have, given the current date.
7int getActualMinimum(int field)
Returns the minimum value that this field could have, given the current date.
8int getGreatestMinimum(int field)
Returns highest minimum value for the given field if varies.
9Date getGregorianChange()
Gets the Gregorian Calendar change date.
10int getLeastMaximum(int field)
Returns lowest maximum value for the given field if varies.
11int getMaximum(int field)
Returns maximum value for the given field.
12Date getTime()
Gets this Calendar's current time.
13long getTimeInMillis()
Gets this Calendar's current time as a long.
14TimeZone getTimeZone()
Gets the time zone.
15int getMinimum(int field)
Returns minimum value for the given field.
16int hashCode()
Overrides hashCode.
17boolean isLeapYear(int year)
Determines if the given year is a leap year.
18void roll(int field, boolean up)
Adds or subtracts (up/down) a single unit of time on the given time field without changing larger fields.
19void set(int field, int value)
Sets the time field with the given value.
20void set(int year, int month, int date)
Sets the values for the fields year, month, and date.
21void set(int year, int month, int date, int hour, int minute)
Sets the values for the fields year, month, date, hour, and minute.
22void set(int year, int month, int date, int hour, int minute, int second)
Sets the values for the fields year, month, date, hour, minute, and second.
23void setGregorianChange(Date date)
Sets the GregorianCalendar change date.
24void setTime(Date date)
Sets this Calendar's current time with the given Date.
25void setTimeInMillis(long millis)
Sets this Calendar's current time from the given long value.
26void setTimeZone(TimeZone value)
Sets the time zone with the given time zone value.
27String toString()
Returns a string representation of this calendar.
Exampleimport java.util.*; public class GregorianCalendarDemo { public static void main(String args[]) { String months[] = {"Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"}; int year; // Create a Gregorian calendar initialized // with the current date and time in the // default locale and timezone. GregorianCalendar gcalendar = new GregorianCalendar(); // Display current time and date information. System.out.print("Date: "); System.out.print(months[gcalendar.get(Calendar.MONTH)]); System.out.print(" " + gcalendar.get(Calendar.DATE) + " "); System.out.println(year = gcalendar.get(Calendar.YEAR)); System.out.print("Time: "); System.out.print(gcalendar.get(Calendar.HOUR) + ":"); System.out.print(gcalendar.get(Calendar.MINUTE) + ":"); System.out.println(gcalendar.get(Calendar.SECOND)); // Test if the current year is a leap year if(gcalendar.isLeapYear(year)) { System.out.println("The current year is a leap year"); }else { System.out.println("The current year is not a leap year"); } } }
This will produce the following result −
OutputDate: Apr 22 2009 Time: 11:25:27 The current year is not a leap year
For a complete list of constant available in Calendar class, you can refer the standard Java documentation.
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