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.N Constructor & Description

o.

1 Date( )
This constructor initializes the object with the current date and
time.

2 Date(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.

Sr.N Method & Description

o.

1 boolean after(Date when)

This method tests if this date is after the specified date.

2 boolean before(Date when)

This method tests if this date is before the specified date.

3 Object clone()
This method return a copy of this object.

4 int compareTo(Date anotherDate)

This method compares two Dates for ordering.

5 boolean equals(Object obj)

This method compares two dates for equality.

6 static Date from​(Instant instant)

This method obtains an instance of Date from an Instant object.
 7 long getTime()
This method returns the number of milliseconds since January 1,
1970, 00:00:00 GMT represented by this Date object.

8 int hashCode()
This method returns a hash code value for this object.

9 void setTime(long time)

This method sets this Date object to represent a point in time that
is time milliseconds after January 1, 1970 00:00:00 GMT.

10 Instant toInstant()
This method converts this Date object to an Instant.

11 String toString()
This method converts this Date object to a String of the form.

Getting Current Date and Time

This 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 −

Example
Open Compiler

import 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());

Sat Sep 14 00:57:25 GMT 2024

This will produce the following result −

Output
on May 04 09:51:52 CDT 2009

Date 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.

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Date Formatting Using SimpleDateFormat

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.

Example
Open Compiler

import 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 −

Output
Current Date: Sun 2004.07.18 at 04:14:09 PM PDT
Simple 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 printf

Date 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.

Example
Open Compiler
import 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 −

Output
Current 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 $.

Example
Open Compiler
import 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 −

Output
Due 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.

Example
Open Compiler
import 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 −

Output
Due date: February 09, 2004

Date and Time Conversion Characters

Charact Description Example
er

Mon May 04 09:51:52

c Complete date and time
CDT 2009

F ISO 8601 date 2004-02-09

D U.S. formatted date 02/09/2004

(month/day/year)

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

Last two digits of the year (with

y 04
leading zeroes)

First two digits of the year (with

C 20
leading zeroes)

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 9
zeroes)

A Full weekday name Monday

a Abbreviated weekday name Mon

Three-digit day of year (with leading

j 069
zeroes)

Two-digit hour (with leading zeroes),

H 18
between 00 and 23

Two-digit hour (without leading

k 18
zeroes), between 0 and 23

Two-digit hour (with leading zeroes),

I 06
between 01 and 12

Two-digit hour (without leading

l 6
zeroes), between 1 and 12

Two-digit minutes (with leading

M 05
zeroes)

Two-digit seconds (with leading

S 19
zeroes)

Three-digit milliseconds (with leading

L 047
zeroes)

Nine-digit nanoseconds (with leading

N 047000000
zeroes)

Uppercase morning or afternoon

P PM
marker

Lowercase morning or afternoon

p pm
marker

z RFC 822 numeric offset from GMT -0800

 Z Time zone PST

Seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00

s 1078884319
GMT

Milliseconds since 1970-01-01

Q 1078884319047
00:00:00 GMT

There are other useful classes related to Date and time. For more details,
you can refer to Java Standard documentation.

Parsing Strings into Dates

The SimpleDateFormat class has some additional methods, notably parse( ),
which tries to parse a string according to the format stored in the given
SimpleDateFormat object.

Example
Open Compiler
import 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);
}
}
}
DateDemo.java:15: error: <identifier> expected
} catch (ParseException) {
^
1 error

A sample run of the above program would produce the following result −

Output
1818-11-11 Parses as Wed Nov 11 00:00:00 EST 1818

Sleeping 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 −

Example
Open Compiler
import java.util.*;
public class SleepDemo {

public static void main(String args[]) {

try {
System.out.println(new Date( ) + "\n");
Thread.sleep(6*61*11);
System.out.println(new Date( ) + "\n");
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println("Got an exception!");
}
}
}

Sat Sep 14 01:27:04 GMT 2024

Sat Sep 14 01:27:08 GMT 2024

This will produce the following result −

Output
Sun May 03 18:04:41 GMT 2009
Sun May 03 18:04:51 GMT 2009

Measuring Elapsed Time

Sometimes, you may need to measure point in time in milliseconds. So let's
re-write the above example once again −

Example
Open Compiler
import 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 −

Output
Sun May 03 18:16:51 GMT 2009
Sun May 03 18:16:57 GMT 2009
Difference is : 5993

GregorianCalendar 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.N Constructor & Description

o.

1 GregorianCalendar()
Constructs a default GregorianCalendar using the current time in
the default time zone with the default locale.

2 GregorianCalendar(int year, int month, int date)

Constructs a GregorianCalendar with the given date set in the
default time zone with the default locale.

3 GregorianCalendar(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.

4 GregorianCalendar(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.

5 GregorianCalendar(Locale aLocale)
Constructs a GregorianCalendar based on the current time in the
default time zone with the given locale.

6 GregorianCalendar(TimeZone zone)
Constructs a GregorianCalendar based on the current time in the
given time zone with the default locale.

7 GregorianCalendar(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.N Method & Description

o.

1 void add(int field, int amount)

Adds the specified (signed) amount of time to the given time field,
based on the calendar's rules.

2 protected void computeFields()

Converts UTC as milliseconds to time field values.

3 protected void computeTime()

Overrides Calendar Converts time field values to UTC as
milliseconds.

4 boolean equals(Object obj)

Compares this GregorianCalendar to an object reference.

5 int get(int field)

Gets the value for a given time field.
6 int getActualMaximum(int field)
Returns the maximum value that this field could have, given the
current date.

7 int getActualMinimum(int field)

Returns the minimum value that this field could have, given the
current date.

8 int getGreatestMinimum(int field)

Returns highest minimum value for the given field if varies.

9 Date getGregorianChange()
Gets the Gregorian Calendar change date.

10 int getLeastMaximum(int field)

Returns lowest maximum value for the given field if varies.

11 int getMaximum(int field)

Returns maximum value for the given field.

12 Date getTime()
Gets this Calendar's current time.

13 long getTimeInMillis()
Gets this Calendar's current time as a long.

14 TimeZone getTimeZone()
Gets the time zone.

15 int getMinimum(int field)

Returns minimum value for the given field.

16 int hashCode()
Overrides hashCode.

17 boolean isLeapYear(int year)

Determines if the given year is a leap year.

18 void roll(int field, boolean up)

Adds or subtracts (up/down) a single unit of time on the given
time field without changing larger fields.
 19 void set(int field, int value)
Sets the time field with the given value.

20 void set(int year, int month, int date)

Sets the values for the fields year, month, and date.

21 void set(int year, int month, int date, int hour, int minute)
Sets the values for the fields year, month, date, hour, and minute.

22 void 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.

23 void setGregorianChange(Date date)

Sets the GregorianCalendar change date.

24 void setTime(Date date)

Sets this Calendar's current time with the given Date.

25 void setTimeInMillis(long millis)

Sets this Calendar's current time from the given long value.

26 void setTimeZone(TimeZone value)

Sets the time zone with the given time zone value.

27 String toString()
Returns a string representation of this calendar.

Example
Open Compiler
import 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 −

Output
Date: 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.
GregorianCalendar Class

GregorianCalendar is a concrete implementation of a calendar that implements the normal

Gregorian calendar with which you are familiar. The GregorianCalendar class has the
following constructors −

Sr.No. Constructor & Description

1 GregorianCalendar()

This constructs a GregorianCalendar with the

current time in the default time zone with the
default Locale.

2 GregorianCalendar(int year, int month, int

dayOfMonth)

This constructs a GregorianCalendar with the

given date set in the default time zone with the
default locale.

3 GregorianCalendar(int year, int month, int

dayOfMonth, int hourOfDay, int minute)

This constructs a GregorianCalendar with the

given date and time set for the default time
zone with the default locale.

4 GregorianCalendar(int year, int month, int

dayOfMonth, int hourOfDay, int minute, int
second)

This constructs a GregorianCalendar with the

given date and time set for the default time
zone with the default locale.
Example
je
import 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");
}
 }
}