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What is a best way to find the number of days and months between two java.time.Instant objects?

NOTE: search Google before marking this question as duplicate. I did search and browse this question and all answers that I found were either for LocalDate, Joda or legacy Java Date.
It took me quite some time to investigate this so I've decided to share this as an answer.
I'd like a way to calculate the (approximate) number of months and days between two Java Instants (objects of java.time.Instant)?

First, what you are asking is not well-defined. For example between the instants 2020-03-01T06:00:00Z and 2020-03-31T05:00:00Z could be:
29 days 23 hours in Australia/Melbourne time zone;
30 days in Europe/Paris time zone;
1 month 1 day in America/Los_Angeles time zone.
Accurate result in a given time zone
ZoneId zone = ZoneId.of("America/Los_Angeles");
Instant start = Instant.parse("2020-03-01T06:00:00Z");
Instant end = Instant.parse("2020-03-31T05:00:00Z");
ZonedDateTime startZdt = start.atZone(zone);
LocalDate startDate = startZdt.toLocalDate();
ZonedDateTime endZdt = end.atZone(zone);
LocalDate endDate = endZdt.toLocalDate();
Period p = Period.between(startDate, endDate);
if (startZdt.plus(p).isAfter(endZdt)) {
// The time of day on the end date is earlier, so don’t count a full date
endDate = endDate.minusDays(1);
p = Period.between(startDate, endDate);
}
System.out.println(p);
Output:
P1M1D
Read as a period of 1 month 1 day.
Approximate result independent of time zone
Prefer to leave as much of the calculation to java.time as possible. This includes the estimate of the length of a month.
Duration diff = Duration.between(start, end);
Duration durationOfAMonth = ChronoUnit.MONTHS.getDuration();
long months = diff.dividedBy(durationOfAMonth);
diff = diff.minus(durationOfAMonth.multipliedBy(months));
long days = diff.toDays();
System.out.println("" + months + " months " + days + " days");
0 months 29 days

I've opted out to approximate solution (it assumes all months have 30.44 days). I've opted out to use something like this:
Duration duration = Duration.between(instant1, instant2).abs(); /* if want negative values remove .abs() */
long hours = duration.toHours();
double daysAndMonthsInDays = hours / 24.0;
int months = daysAndMonthsInDays / 30.44; //average number of days per month
int days = daysAndMonthsInDays - months * 30.44;
Please post another answer if there is a better solution using Duration class or something else. I've decided not to convert Instant to LocalDate and to perform the conversion on that level. That would not use an approximation of 30.44 days in a month, but rather the actual number.

Time manipulation by -1 month +1 day is still 1 month difference from start

I would like to reach date that is -1month +1day, which should be 0month difference from start date.
Using joda-time 2.10:
int day = 29;
LocalDate date1 = new LocalDate(new GregorianCalendar(2019, Calendar.JUNE, day).getTime());
LocalDate date2 = date1.plusMonths(-1).plusDays(1);
Months.monthsBetween(date1,date2).getMonths(); // returns 0 <- it's OK
but the same code with input int day = 30; returns -1 which is bad.
That looks like an inconsequence in Joda library.
That's a case: shift by -1month change date by shift month number and keep day number no greater than in input, but month-difference between dates are depend on day of month.
Do you know any alternative and working solution?
I have found JSR-310 with ChronoUnit - that solves the problem, BUT it needs Java8. I would like to stay on Java7.

Different time interval util.date and DAYS.between(Localtime)

Something doesn't seem right and i just dont know how I can fix it.
I want to know the difference in days between 2 dates. Now I implemented a function, which calculates the differences from milliseconds to days for util.date objects
public long calculateNumberOfDays(Date from, Date to) {
return (to.getTime() - from.getTime()) / (1000*60*60*24);
}
My jUnit test told me, there was an error with this function, so I rewrote it using LocalDate and the ChronoUnit.DAYS.between function. It worked like a charm.
Wanting to know what the differences between those two functions were, I wrote this little test:
for(int numberDays = 1; numberDays<10; numberDays++){
LocalDate fromLD = LocalDate.now();
LocalDate toLD = fromLD.plusDays(numberDays);
Date fromD = Date.valueOf(fromLD);
Date toD = Date.valueOf(toLD);
long diffMS = toD.getTime() - fromD.getTime();
double diffDays = diffMS/(1000*60*60*24);
long numDaysDate = DAYS.between(fromLD, toLD);
System.out.println(numberDays+" = "+diffDays+"/"+numDaysDate);
}
It resulted in the following output:
1 = 1.0/1
2 = 2.0/2
3 = 3.0/3
4 = 4.0/4
5 = 4.0/5
6 = 5.0/6
7 = 6.0/7
8 = 7.0/8
9 = 8.0/9
Can someone explain to me, how this is possible? (1-4 it works, 5-9 util.date has lost a day)

Dates are hard. A java Date is a date and time, so when you set it to an actual date, it means midnight on that date.
Daylight savings time kicks in any day now (at least over here), so midnight on Monday will be 23 hours after midnight on Sunday.
Dividing integers rounds down, so 4 days and 23 hours is 4 days
Casting the result of an integer division to a double is too late; you need to cast either or both of the inputs:
double diffDays = diffMS/(1000*60*60*24);
4.0
double diffDays = diffMS/(1000.0*60*60*24);
4.958333...

Test a date within a day intervall range

I have a date and a number and want to check if this date and this number occurs in a list of other dates within:
+-20 date intervall with the same number
so for example 1, 1.1.2013 and 1,3.1.2013 should reuturn false.
I tried to implement the method something like that:
private List<EventDate> dayIntervall(List<EventDate> eventList) throws Exception {
List<EventDate> resultList = new ArrayList<EventDate>();
for (int i = 0; i < eventList.size(); i++) {
String string = eventList.get(i).getDate();
Date equalDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.MM.yyyy", Locale.GERMAN).parse(string);
for (int j = 0; j < eventList.size(); j++) {
String string1 = eventList.get(i).getDate();
Date otherDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.MM.yyyy", Locale.GERMAN).parse(string1);
if (check number of i with number of j && check Date) {
//do magic
}
}
}
return resultList;
}
The construction of the iteration method is not that hard. What is hard for me is the date intervall checking part. I tried it like that:
boolean isWithinRange(Date testDate, Date days) {
return !(testDate.before(days) || testDate.after(days));
}
However that does not work because days are not takes as days. Any suggestions on how to fix that?
I really appreciate your answer!

You question is difficult to follow. But given its title, perhaps this will help…
Span Of Time In Joda-Time
The Joda-Time library provides a trio of classes to represent a span of time: Interval, Period, and Duration.
Interval
An Interval object has specific endpoints that lie on the timeline of the Universe. A handy contains method tells if a DateTime object occurs within those endpoints. The beginning endpoint in inclusive while the last endpoint is exclusive.
Time Zones
Note that time zones are important, for handling Daylight Saving Time and other anomalies, and for handling start-of-day. Keep in mind that while a java.util.Date seems like it has a time zone but does not, a DateTime truly does know its own time zone.
Sample Code
Some code off the top of my head (untested)…
DateTimeZone timeZone = DateTimeZone.forID( "Europe/Berlin" );
DateTime dateTime = new DateTime( yourDateGoesHere, timeZone );
Interval interval = new Interval( dateTime.minusDays( 20 ), dateTime.plusDays( 20 ) );
boolean didEventOccurDuringInterval = interval.contains( someOtherDateTime );
Whole Days
If you want whole days, call the withTimeAtStartOfDay method to get first moment of the day. In this case, you probably need to add 21 rather than 20 days for the ending point. As I said above, the end point is exclusive. So if you want whole days, you need the first moment after the time period you care about. You need the moment after the stroke of midnight. If this does not make sense, see my answers to other questions here and here.
Note that Joda-Time includes some "midnight"-related methods and classes. Those are no longer recommended by the Joda team. The "withTimeAtStartOfDay" method takes their place.
DateTime start = dateTime.minusDays( 20 ).withTimeAtStartOfDay();
DateTime stop = dateTime.plusDays( 21 ).withTimeAtStartOfDay(); // 21, not 20, for whole days.
Interval interval = new Interval( start, stop );

You should avoid java.util.Date if at all possible. Using the backport of ThreeTen (the long awaited replacement date/time API coming in JDK8), you can get the number of days between two dates like so:
int daysBetween(LocalDate start, LocalDate end) {
return Math.abs(start.periodUntil(end).getDays());
}
Does that help?

You can get the number of dates in between the 2 dates and compare with your days parameter. Using Joda-Time API it is relatively an easy task: How do I calculate the difference between two dates?.
Code:
SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.MM.yyyy", Locale.GERMAN);
Date startDate = format.parse("1.1.2013");
Date endDate = format.parse("3.1.2013");
Days d = Days.daysBetween(new DateTime(startDate), new DateTime(endDate));
System.out.println(d.getDays());
Gives,
2
This is possible using Calendar class as well:
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.setTime(startDate);
System.out.println(cal.fieldDifference(endDate, Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR));
Gives,
2
This 2 can now be compared to your actual value (20).

Error while calculating java Date difference

Calculating the difference between two dates (java.util.Date) in terms of no. of days look like very simple and we can find different ways to do that. I used the following code to calculate the date difference:
public static long daysBetween(Calendar startDate, Calendar endDate) {
Calendar date = (Calendar) startDate.clone();
long daysBetween = 0;
while (date.before(endDate)) {
date.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, 1);
daysBetween++;
}
return daysBetween;
}
In main(), I used the following two dates :
Calendar c1 = Calendar.getInstance();
c1.set(2011, 1, 1);
Calendar c2 = Calendar.getInstance();
c2.set(2011, 1, 31);
long difference = daysBetween(c1, c2); //
But the value of the variable difference is not consistent. It is sometimes 30 and sometimes 31. So, why that might have happened.
Is there any solution to use the method results a consistent output ?

You're setting the date part of the calendars, but not the time part.
Sometimes the clock will tick between the calls to getInstance() and sometimes it won't, hence the inconsistency.
Options:
Set the time as well as the date, e.g. to midnight
Use a better date/time library - Joda Time - which has a more suitable representation (LocalDate). An important moral here is that if you can find a type which represents the exact information you have, and nothing else, that's likely to be a good fit and cause fewer complications.
Using LocalDate, you wouldn't even have to do the loop as Joda Time has good support for computing the differences between two values anyway.
LocalDate date1 = new LocalDate(2011, 1, 1);
LocalDate date2 = new LocalDate(2011, 1, 31);
Days period = Days.daysBetween(days1, days2);
int days = period.getDays();

You are only setting the year, month and day. The hours, minutes, seconds and milli-seconds are the current time (and thus different every time you run it)
I suggest you use Joda Time's LocalDate instead as it appears to does exactly what you want.