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How to set String (HH:mm) to UTC time with current date and convert it to local time

I need to convert a string that is in (HH:mm) format which is supposed to be in UTC time to the local TimeZone. How to add the present date to the string and convert it local time.
I have tried using the calendar
String utcTimeString = "06:00";
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm", Locale.getDefault());
sdf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
Calendar now = Calendar.getInstance(Locale.getDefault());
now.setTime(sdf.parse(utcTimeString));

You are well advised to use the modern API for dates, times, time zones, offsets, calendars and more:
java.time
Doing so, it is pretty easy to
parse the time you receive
get the current date and
combine them to a date-time representation with a certain time zone
See this little example:
public static void main(String[] args) {
// create a time object from the String
LocalTime localTime = LocalTime.parse("06:00", DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("HH:mm"));
// print it once in an ISO format
System.out.println(localTime.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_TIME));
// receive the date of today
LocalDate today = LocalDate.now();
// then use the date and the time object to create a zone-aware datetime object
ZonedDateTime zdt = LocalDateTime.of(today, localTime).atZone(ZoneId.of("UTC"));
// print it
System.out.println(zdt.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_ZONED_DATE_TIME));
}
The output is
06:00:00
2019-11-04T06:00:00Z[UTC]
Which you can format as desired using different DateTimeFormatters.

Try like the following.
public String getDateTimeInUTC(String yourTime){
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
SimpleDateFormat currentDate= new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd, yyyy ");
String currentDateTime = currentDate.format(cal.getTime())+yourTime; // here concate your time with current date.
System.out.println("Current date with given time: "+currentDateTime);
SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd, yyyy HH:mm", Locale.ENGLISH);
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
Date date = null;
try {
date = df.parse(currentDateTime);
} catch (ParseException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getDefault());
String formattedDate = df.format(date);
return formattedDate;
}
Call getDateTimeInUTC like below
String strTime = "12:10"; // your string time in HH:mm format
String finalDateTime = getDateTimeInUTC(strTime);
System.out.println("Final date-time in UTC: "+finalDateTime);
OUTPUT:
Current date with given time: Nov 04, 2019 12:10
Final date-time in UTC: Nov 04, 2019 18:10

You can Check this Out :
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
calendar.setTime(new Date());
//change the format according to your need
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss");
//Here you say to java the initial timezone. This is the secret
sdf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
//Will print in UTC
System.out.println(sdf.format(calendar.getTime()));
//Here you set to your timezone
sdf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getDefault());
//Will print on your default Timezone
System.out.println(sdf.format(calendar.getTime()));

my Date Util formatter does not return my intended date format need help, [duplicate]

How to convert calendar date to yyyy-MM-dd format.
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, 1);
Date date = cal.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
String date1 = format1.format(date);
Date inActiveDate = null;
try {
inActiveDate = format1.parse(date1);
} catch (ParseException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}
This will produce inActiveDate = Wed Sep 26 00:00:00 IST 2012. But what I need is 2012-09-26. My purpose is to compare this date with another date in my database using Hibernate criteria. So I need the date object in yyyy-MM-dd format.

A Java Date is a container for the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT.
When you use something like System.out.println(date), Java uses Date.toString() to print the contents.
The only way to change it is to override Date and provide your own implementation of Date.toString(). Now before you fire up your IDE and try this, I wouldn't; it will only complicate matters. You are better off formatting the date to the format you want to use (or display).
Java 8+
LocalDateTime ldt = LocalDateTime.now().plusDays(1);
DateTimeFormatter formmat1 = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd", Locale.ENGLISH);
System.out.println(ldt);
// Output "2018-05-12T17:21:53.658"
String formatter = formmat1.format(ldt);
System.out.println(formatter);
// 2018-05-12
Prior to Java 8
You should be making use of the ThreeTen Backport
The following is maintained for historical purposes (as the original answer)
What you can do, is format the date.
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, 1);
SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
System.out.println(cal.getTime());
// Output "Wed Sep 26 14:23:28 EST 2012"
String formatted = format1.format(cal.getTime());
System.out.println(formatted);
// Output "2012-09-26"
System.out.println(format1.parse(formatted));
// Output "Wed Sep 26 00:00:00 EST 2012"
These are actually the same date, represented differently.

Your code is wrong. No point of parsing date and keep that as Date object.
You can format the calender date object when you want to display and keep that as a string.
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, 1);
Date date = cal.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
String inActiveDate = null;
try {
inActiveDate = format1.format(date);
System.out.println(inActiveDate );
} catch (ParseException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}

java.time
The answer by MadProgrammer is correct, especially the tip about Joda-Time. The successor to Joda-Time is now built into Java 8 as the new java.time package. Here's example code in Java 8.
When working with date-time (as opposed to local date), the time zone in critical. The day-of-month depends on the time zone. For example, the India time zone is +05:30 (five and a half hours ahead of UTC), while France is only one hour ahead. So a moment in a new day in India has one date while the same moment in France has “yesterday’s” date. Creating string output lacking any time zone or offset information is creating ambiguity. You asked for YYYY-MM-DD output so I provided, but I don't recommend it. Instead of ISO_LOCAL_DATE I would have used ISO_DATE to get this output: 2014-02-25+05:30
ZoneId zoneId = ZoneId.of( "Asia/Kolkata" );
ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime = ZonedDateTime.now( zoneId );
DateTimeFormatter formatterOutput = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_LOCAL_DATE; // Caution: The "LOCAL" part means we are losing time zone information, creating ambiguity.
String output = formatterOutput.format( zonedDateTime );
Dump to console…
System.out.println( "zonedDateTime: " + zonedDateTime );
System.out.println( "output: " + output );
When run…
zonedDateTime: 2014-02-25T14:22:20.919+05:30[Asia/Kolkata]
output: 2014-02-25
Joda-Time
Similar code using the Joda-Time library, the precursor to java.time.
DateTimeZone zone = new DateTimeZone( "Asia/Kolkata" );
DateTime dateTime = DateTime.now( zone );
DateTimeFormatter formatter = ISODateTimeFormat.date();
String output = formatter.print( dateTime );
ISO 8601
By the way, that format of your input string is a standard format, one of several handy date-time string formats defined by ISO 8601.
Both Joda-Time and java.time use ISO 8601 formats by default when parsing and generating string representations of various date-time values.

java.util.Date object can't represent date in custom format instead you've to use SimpleDateFormat.format method that returns string.
String myString=format1.format(date);

public static void main(String[] args) {
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.set(year, month, date);
SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy MM dd");
String formatted = format1.format(cal.getTime());
System.out.println(formatted);
}

In order to parse a java.util.Date object you have to convert it to String first using your own format.
inActiveDate = format1.parse( format1.format(date) );
But I believe you are being redundant here.

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, 7);
Date date = c.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat ft = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-YYYY");
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, ft.format(date));
This will display your date + 7 days in month, day and year format in a JOption window pane.

public static String ThisWeekStartDate(WebDriver driver) {
Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
//ensure the method works within current month
c.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, Calendar.SUNDAY);
System.out.println("Before Start Date " + c.getTime());
Date date = c.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat dfDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMM yyyy hh.mm a");
String CurrentDate = dfDate.format(date);
System.out.println("Start Date " + CurrentDate);
return CurrentDate;
}
public static String ThisWeekEndDate(WebDriver driver) {
Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
//ensure the method works within current month
c.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, Calendar.SATURDAY);
System.out.println("Before End Date " + c.getTime());
Date date = c.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat dfDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMM yyyy hh.mm a");
String CurrentDate = dfDate.format(date);
System.out.println("End Date " + CurrentDate);
return CurrentDate;
}

I found this code where date is compared in a format to compare with date field in database...may be this might be helpful to you...
When you convert the string to date using simpledateformat, it is hard to compare with the Date field in mysql databases.
So convert the java string date in the format using select STR_to_DATE('yourdate','%m/%d/%Y') --> in this format, then you will get the exact date format of mysql date field.
http://javainfinite.com/java/java-convert-string-to-date-and-compare/

My answer is for kotlin language.
You can use SimpleDateFormat to achieve the result:
val date = Date(timeInSec)
val formattedDate = SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd", Locale("IN")).format(date)
for details click here.
OR
Use Calendar to do it for you:
val dateObject = Date(timeInMillis)
val calendarInstance = Calendar.getInstance()
calendarInstance.time = dateObject
val date = "${calendarInstance.get(Calendar.YEAR)}-${calendarInstance.get(Calendar.MONTH)}-${calendarInstance.get(Calendar.DATE)}"
For more details check this answer.

I don't know about y'all, but I always want this stuff as a one-liner. The other answers are fine and dandy and work great, but here is it condensed to a single line. Now you can hold less lines of code in your mind :-).
Here is the one Liner:
String currentDate = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").format(new Date());

Change format date in Java does not work correctly [duplicate]

How to convert calendar date to yyyy-MM-dd format.
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, 1);
Date date = cal.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
String date1 = format1.format(date);
Date inActiveDate = null;
try {
inActiveDate = format1.parse(date1);
} catch (ParseException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}
This will produce inActiveDate = Wed Sep 26 00:00:00 IST 2012. But what I need is 2012-09-26. My purpose is to compare this date with another date in my database using Hibernate criteria. So I need the date object in yyyy-MM-dd format.

A Java Date is a container for the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT.
When you use something like System.out.println(date), Java uses Date.toString() to print the contents.
The only way to change it is to override Date and provide your own implementation of Date.toString(). Now before you fire up your IDE and try this, I wouldn't; it will only complicate matters. You are better off formatting the date to the format you want to use (or display).
Java 8+
LocalDateTime ldt = LocalDateTime.now().plusDays(1);
DateTimeFormatter formmat1 = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd", Locale.ENGLISH);
System.out.println(ldt);
// Output "2018-05-12T17:21:53.658"
String formatter = formmat1.format(ldt);
System.out.println(formatter);
// 2018-05-12
Prior to Java 8
You should be making use of the ThreeTen Backport
The following is maintained for historical purposes (as the original answer)
What you can do, is format the date.
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, 1);
SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
System.out.println(cal.getTime());
// Output "Wed Sep 26 14:23:28 EST 2012"
String formatted = format1.format(cal.getTime());
System.out.println(formatted);
// Output "2012-09-26"
System.out.println(format1.parse(formatted));
// Output "Wed Sep 26 00:00:00 EST 2012"
These are actually the same date, represented differently.

Your code is wrong. No point of parsing date and keep that as Date object.
You can format the calender date object when you want to display and keep that as a string.
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, 1);
Date date = cal.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
String inActiveDate = null;
try {
inActiveDate = format1.format(date);
System.out.println(inActiveDate );
} catch (ParseException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}

java.time
The answer by MadProgrammer is correct, especially the tip about Joda-Time. The successor to Joda-Time is now built into Java 8 as the new java.time package. Here's example code in Java 8.
When working with date-time (as opposed to local date), the time zone in critical. The day-of-month depends on the time zone. For example, the India time zone is +05:30 (five and a half hours ahead of UTC), while France is only one hour ahead. So a moment in a new day in India has one date while the same moment in France has “yesterday’s” date. Creating string output lacking any time zone or offset information is creating ambiguity. You asked for YYYY-MM-DD output so I provided, but I don't recommend it. Instead of ISO_LOCAL_DATE I would have used ISO_DATE to get this output: 2014-02-25+05:30
ZoneId zoneId = ZoneId.of( "Asia/Kolkata" );
ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime = ZonedDateTime.now( zoneId );
DateTimeFormatter formatterOutput = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_LOCAL_DATE; // Caution: The "LOCAL" part means we are losing time zone information, creating ambiguity.
String output = formatterOutput.format( zonedDateTime );
Dump to console…
System.out.println( "zonedDateTime: " + zonedDateTime );
System.out.println( "output: " + output );
When run…
zonedDateTime: 2014-02-25T14:22:20.919+05:30[Asia/Kolkata]
output: 2014-02-25
Joda-Time
Similar code using the Joda-Time library, the precursor to java.time.
DateTimeZone zone = new DateTimeZone( "Asia/Kolkata" );
DateTime dateTime = DateTime.now( zone );
DateTimeFormatter formatter = ISODateTimeFormat.date();
String output = formatter.print( dateTime );
ISO 8601
By the way, that format of your input string is a standard format, one of several handy date-time string formats defined by ISO 8601.
Both Joda-Time and java.time use ISO 8601 formats by default when parsing and generating string representations of various date-time values.

java.util.Date object can't represent date in custom format instead you've to use SimpleDateFormat.format method that returns string.
String myString=format1.format(date);

public static void main(String[] args) {
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.set(year, month, date);
SimpleDateFormat format1 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy MM dd");
String formatted = format1.format(cal.getTime());
System.out.println(formatted);
}

In order to parse a java.util.Date object you have to convert it to String first using your own format.
inActiveDate = format1.parse( format1.format(date) );
But I believe you are being redundant here.

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, 7);
Date date = c.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat ft = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-YYYY");
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, ft.format(date));
This will display your date + 7 days in month, day and year format in a JOption window pane.

public static String ThisWeekStartDate(WebDriver driver) {
Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
//ensure the method works within current month
c.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, Calendar.SUNDAY);
System.out.println("Before Start Date " + c.getTime());
Date date = c.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat dfDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMM yyyy hh.mm a");
String CurrentDate = dfDate.format(date);
System.out.println("Start Date " + CurrentDate);
return CurrentDate;
}
public static String ThisWeekEndDate(WebDriver driver) {
Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
//ensure the method works within current month
c.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, Calendar.SATURDAY);
System.out.println("Before End Date " + c.getTime());
Date date = c.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat dfDate = new SimpleDateFormat("dd MMM yyyy hh.mm a");
String CurrentDate = dfDate.format(date);
System.out.println("End Date " + CurrentDate);
return CurrentDate;
}

I found this code where date is compared in a format to compare with date field in database...may be this might be helpful to you...
When you convert the string to date using simpledateformat, it is hard to compare with the Date field in mysql databases.
So convert the java string date in the format using select STR_to_DATE('yourdate','%m/%d/%Y') --> in this format, then you will get the exact date format of mysql date field.
http://javainfinite.com/java/java-convert-string-to-date-and-compare/

My answer is for kotlin language.
You can use SimpleDateFormat to achieve the result:
val date = Date(timeInSec)
val formattedDate = SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd", Locale("IN")).format(date)
for details click here.
OR
Use Calendar to do it for you:
val dateObject = Date(timeInMillis)
val calendarInstance = Calendar.getInstance()
calendarInstance.time = dateObject
val date = "${calendarInstance.get(Calendar.YEAR)}-${calendarInstance.get(Calendar.MONTH)}-${calendarInstance.get(Calendar.DATE)}"
For more details check this answer.

I don't know about y'all, but I always want this stuff as a one-liner. The other answers are fine and dandy and work great, but here is it condensed to a single line. Now you can hold less lines of code in your mind :-).
Here is the one Liner:
String currentDate = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").format(new Date());

Convert UTC into Local Time on Android

In my project, I have get the API response in json format. I get a string value of time in UTC time format like this Jul 16, 2013 12:08:59 AM.
I need to change this into Local time.
That is where ever we use this the app needs to show the local time. How to I do this?
Here is some Code I have tried:
String aDate = getValue("dateTime", aEventJson);
SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss z");
simpleDateFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getDefault());
String formattedDate = simpleDateFormat.format(aDate);
Assume aDate contains Jul 16, 2013 12:08:59 AM

Here's my attempt:
String dateStr = "Jul 16, 2013 12:08:59 AM";
SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss a", Locale.ENGLISH);
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
Date date = df.parse(dateStr);
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getDefault());
String formattedDate = df.format(date);
Also notice the "a" for the am/pm marker...

I should like to contribute the modern answer. While SimpleDateFormat was the class we had for parsing and formatting date-times in 2013 (apart from Joda-Time), it is now long outdated, and we have so much better in java.time or JSR-310, the modern Java date and time API that came out with Java 8 in 2014.
But most Android devices still don’t run Java 8, I hear you say. Fortunately you can still use the modern Java date and time API on them through the ThreeTenABP, the backport of JSR-310 to Android Java 7. Details are in this question: How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project.
Now the code is:
DateTimeFormatter formatter
= DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMM dd, uuuu hh:mm:ss a", Locale.ENGLISH);
String aDate = "Jul 16, 2013 12:08:59 AM";
String formattedDate = LocalDateTime.parse(aDate, formatter)
.atOffset(ZoneOffset.UTC)
.atZoneSameInstant(ZoneId.systemDefault())
.format(formatter);
System.out.println(formattedDate);
Since my computer is running Europe/Copenhagen time zone, which in July is 2 hours ahead of UTC, this prints
Jul 16, 2013 02:08:59 AM
Further points:
Since you have AM in your string, I assumed your hours are within AM, from 1 through 12. To parse and format them correctly you need lowercase h in the format pattern string. Uppercase H is for hour-of-day from 0 through 23.
Prefer to give an explcit locale to the formatter (whether SimpleDateFormat or DateTimeFormatter). If no locale is given, the formatter will use the device’s default locale. “Jul” and “AM” are in English, and your code may run nicely on many devices until one day it runs on a device with non-English locale and crashes, and you have a hard time figuring out why.
If you can, give the desired time zone explictly, for example as ZoneId.of("Asia/Kolkata"). The JVM’s default time zone may be changed by other parts of your program or other programs running in the same JVM, so is not reliable.

1.Local to UTC Converter
public static String localToUTC(String dateFormat, String datesToConvert) {
String dateToReturn = datesToConvert;
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(dateFormat);
sdf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getDefault());
Date gmt = null;
SimpleDateFormat sdfOutPutToSend = new SimpleDateFormat(dateFormat);
sdfOutPutToSend.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
try {
gmt = sdf.parse(datesToConvert);
dateToReturn = sdfOutPutToSend.format(gmt);
} catch (ParseException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return dateToReturn;
}
2. UTC to Local Converter
public static String uTCToLocal(String dateFormatInPut, String dateFomratOutPut, String datesToConvert) {
String dateToReturn = datesToConvert;
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(dateFormatInPut);
sdf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
Date gmt = null;
SimpleDateFormat sdfOutPutToSend = new SimpleDateFormat(dateFomratOutPut);
sdfOutPutToSend.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getDefault());
try {
gmt = sdf.parse(datesToConvert);
dateToReturn = sdfOutPutToSend.format(gmt);
} catch (ParseException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return dateToReturn; }

//your UTC time var
long time = UTCtime;
//convert it
Time timeFormat = new Time();
timeFormat.set(time+TimeZone.getDefault().getOffset(time));
//use the value
long localTime = timeFormat.toMillis(true);

Use the following code.
TimeZone defaultTimeZone = TimeZone.getDefault();
String strDefaultTimeZone = defaultTimeZone.getDisplayName(false, TimeZone.SHORT);
//The code you use
String aDate = getValue("dateTime", aEventJson);
SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss z");
simpleDateFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone(strDefaultTimeZone));
String formattedDate = simpleDateFormat.format(aDate);
This should work.

This is how i do it on android Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 26
int offset = TimeZone.getDefault().getRawOffset();
String str_date='20:30 12-01-2021';
DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm dd-MM-yyy",Locale.US);
Date date = formatter.parse(str_date);
long utcTime = date.getTime() + (3600000*3);
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm dd/MM/yyyy", Locale.US);
String dateStr = sdf.format(utcTime + offset);
System.out.println(dateStr);
As my server sends the time with -3 timezone i have to add (3600*3) to getTime and i save it into utcTime, this way utcTime is in UTC. And then i add to utcTime the offset of the phone current timezone.
In my case as my timezone is -3 its prints:
20:30 12/01/2021
But if i change my time zone the date also changes.

Use this code:
public static String stringDateWithTimezone(Date date, String pattern, TimeZone timeZone) {
try {
SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, Locale.US);
if (timeZone != null) {
simpleDateFormat.setTimeZone(timeZone);
}
return simpleDateFormat.format(date);
} catch (Exception e) {
Timber.e(e);
return null;
}
}
call in another class:
String dateUtc = DateUtil.stringDateWithTimezone(new Date(), "yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss", TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));

Date and time conversion to some other Timezone in java

i have written this code to convert the current system date and time to some other timezone. I am not getting any error but i am not getting my output as expected. Like if i execute my program at a particular time.. My output is ::
The current time in India is :: Fri Feb 24 16:09:23 IST 2012
The date and time in :: Central Standard Time is :: Sat Feb 25 03:39:23 IST 2012
And the actual Time according to CST time zone is ::
Friday, 24 February 4:39:16 a.m(GMT - 6:00)
So there's some time gap. and i don't know why this is happening. Any help will be appreciated.. The code is ::
package MyPackage;
import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.TimeZone;
public class Temp2 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
Calendar currentdate = Calendar.getInstance();
String strdate = null;
DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss");
strdate = formatter.format(currentdate.getTime());
TimeZone obj = TimeZone.getTimeZone("CST");
formatter.setTimeZone(obj);
//System.out.println(strdate);
//System.out.println(formatter.parse(strdate));
Date theResult = formatter.parse(strdate);
System.out.println("The current time in India is :: " +currentdate.getTime());
System.out.println("The date and time in :: "+ obj.getDisplayName() + "is ::" + theResult);
} catch (ParseException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

It's over the web. Could have googled. Anyways, here is a version for you (shamelessly picked and modified from here):
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
TimeZone fromTimeZone = calendar.getTimeZone();
TimeZone toTimeZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone("CST");
calendar.setTimeZone(fromTimeZone);
calendar.add(Calendar.MILLISECOND, fromTimeZone.getRawOffset() * -1);
if (fromTimeZone.inDaylightTime(calendar.getTime())) {
calendar.add(Calendar.MILLISECOND, calendar.getTimeZone().getDSTSavings() * -1);
}
calendar.add(Calendar.MILLISECOND, toTimeZone.getRawOffset());
if (toTimeZone.inDaylightTime(calendar.getTime())) {
calendar.add(Calendar.MILLISECOND, toTimeZone.getDSTSavings());
}
System.out.println(calendar.getTime());

Your mistake is to call parse instead of format.
You call parse to parse a Date from a String, but in your case you've got a Date and need to format it using the correct Timezone.
Replace your code with
Calendar currentdate = Calendar.getInstance();
DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss");
TimeZone obj = TimeZone.getTimeZone("CST");
formatter.setTimeZone(obj);
System.out.println("Local:: " +currentdate.getTime());
System.out.println("CST:: "+ formatter.format(currentdate.getTime()));
and I hope you'll get the output you are expecting.

SimpleDateFormat#setTimezone() is the answer. One formatter with ETC timezone you use for parsing, another with UTC for producing output string:
DateFormat dfNy = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss", Locale.ROOT);
dfNy.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("EST"));
DateFormat dfUtc = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss", Locale.ROOT);
dfUtc.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
try {
return dfUtc.format(dfNy.parse(input));
} catch (ParseException e) {
return null; // invalid input
}

Handling dates in Java in my daily work is a non-trivial task. I suggest you to use Joda-Time that simplify our coding days and you don't have to "re-invent the wheel".

You can use two SimpleDateFormat, one for parse the date string with EST timezone, one for print the date with UTC timezone
String format = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
SimpleDateFormat estFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat(format);
estFormatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("EST"));
Date date = estFormatter.parse("2015-11-01 01:00:00");
SimpleDateFormat utcFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat(format);
utcFormatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
System.out.println(utcFormatter.format(date));

You can just use "CST6CDT"
because in some countries they follow CDT in summer and CST in winter
public static String getDateInCST() {
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS");
formatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone( "CST6CDT"));
String strdate = formatter.format(calendar.getTime());
TimeZone.getAvailableIDs();
return strdate;
}

Problem is when you print date obj it call toString method and it will print in your machines default time zone. Try this code and see difference.
Calendar currentdate = Calendar.getInstance();
String strdate = null;
DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ssz");
strdate = formatter.format(currentdate.getTime());
System.out.println("strdate=>" + strdate);
TimeZone obj = TimeZone.getTimeZone("CST");
formatter.setTimeZone(obj);
strdate = formatter.format(currentdate.getTime());
Date theResult = formatter.parse(strdate);
System.out.println("The current time in India is :: " +currentdate.getTime());
System.out.println("The date and time in :: " + obj.getDisplayName() + "is ::" + theResult);
System.out.println("The date and time in :: " + obj.getDisplayName() + "is ::" + strdate);

First message, don’t handle your date and time as strings in your code. Just as you don’t handle numbers and Boolean values as strings (I hope). Use proper date-time objects.
java.time
Sometimes we get date and time as string input. It may be from a text file, from the user or from data exchange with another system, for example. In those cases parse into a proper date-time object first thing. Second message, use java.time, the modern Java date and time API, for your date and time work.
DateTimeFormatter formatter
= DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("uuuu-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
String input = "2015-11-01 01:00:00";
ZonedDateTime nyTime = LocalDateTime.parse(input, formatter)
.atZone(ZoneId.of("America/New_York"));
System.out.println("Time in New York: " + nyTime);
Output from this snippet is:
Time in New York: 2015-11-01T01:00-04:00[America/New_York]
To convert to GMT:
OffsetDateTime gmtTime = nyTime.toOffsetDateTime()
.withOffsetSameInstant(ZoneOffset.UTC);
System.out.println("GMT Time: " + gmtTime);
GMT Time: 2015-11-01T05:00Z
If you need to give string output, format using a date-time formatter. Here’s an example of formatting for an American audience:
DateTimeFormatter userFormatter
= DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDateTime(FormatStyle.MEDIUM)
.withLocale(Locale.US);
String formattedDateTime = gmtTime.format(userFormatter);
System.out.println("GMT Time formatted for user: " + formattedDateTime);
GMT Time formatted for user: Nov 1, 2015, 5:00:00 AM
You additionally asked:
Between the two results below, which one should you take?
I understand that you ask because both are valid answers. On November 1, 2015 summer time (DST) ended at 2 AM. That is, after 01:59:59 came 01:00:00 a second time. So when we have got 2015-11-01 01:00:00 as input, it is ambiguous. It could be in Eastern Daylight Time, equal to 05:00 GMT, or it could be in Eastern Standard Time, one hour later, hence equal to 06:00 GMT. There is no way that I can tell you which of them is correct in your case. You may control which result you get using withEarlierOffsetAtOverlap() or withLaterOffsetAtOverlap(). Above we got the DST interpretation. So to get the standard time interpretation:
nyTime = nyTime.withLaterOffsetAtOverlap();
System.out.println("Alternate time in New York: " + nyTime);
Alternate time in New York: 2015-11-01T01:00-05:00[America/New_York]
We notice that the hour of day is still 01:00, but the offset is now -05:00 instead of -04:00. This also gives us a different GMT time:
GMT Time: 2015-11-01T06:00Z
GMT Time formatted for user: Nov 1, 2015, 6:00:00 AM
Avoid SimpleDateFormat and friends
While the other answers are generally correct, the classes DateFormat, SimpleDateFormat, Date and Calendar used there are poorly designed and long outdated. The first two are particularly troublesome. I recommend you avoid all of them. I frankly find the modern API so much nicer to work with.
Link
Oracle tutorial: Date Time explaining how to use java.time.

Please refer to below mentioned code.
DateFormat utcConverter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
utcConverter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT"));
String sampleDateTime = "2015-11-01 01:00:00";
DateFormat nyConverter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
nyConverter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("EST"));
Calendar nyCal = Calendar.getInstance();
nyCal.setTime(nyConverter.parse(sampleDateTime));
System.out.println("NY TIME :" +nyConverter.format(nyCal.getTime()));
System.out.println("GMT TIME :" +utcConverter.format(nyCal.getTime()));

2020 Answer Here
If you want the new java.time.* feature but still want to mess with java.util.Date:
public static Date convertBetweenTwoTimeZone(Date date, String fromTimeZone, String toTimeZone) {
ZoneId fromTimeZoneId = ZoneId.of(fromTimeZone);
ZoneId toTimeZoneId = ZoneId.of(toTimeZone);
ZonedDateTime fromZonedDateTime =
ZonedDateTime.ofInstant(date.toInstant(), ZoneId.systemDefault()).withZoneSameLocal(fromTimeZoneId);
ZonedDateTime toZonedDateTime = fromZonedDateTime
.withZoneSameInstant(toTimeZoneId)
.withZoneSameLocal(ZoneId.systemDefault())
;
return Date.from(toZonedDateTime.toInstant());
}
for java.sql.Timestamp
public static Timestamp convertBetweenTwoTimeZone(Timestamp timestamp, String fromTimeZone, String toTimeZone) {
ZoneId fromTimeZoneId = ZoneId.of(fromTimeZone);
ZoneId toTimeZoneId = ZoneId.of(toTimeZone);
LocalDateTime localDateTimeBeforeDST = timestamp.toLocalDateTime();
ZonedDateTime fromZonedDateTime = ZonedDateTime.of(localDateTimeBeforeDST, fromTimeZoneId);
ZonedDateTime toZonedDateTime = fromZonedDateTime.withZoneSameInstant(toTimeZoneId);
return Timestamp.valueOf(toZonedDateTime.toLocalDateTime());
}

For google calendar API
private String getFormatedDate(Date date)
{
DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss+05:30");
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT+05:30"));
return df.format(date);
}