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How to get the first day of the current week and month?
(15 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
I would like to fetch the first date of a week.
My input is going to be a String type like 07/26/2014".
I need to get the first date of week in which the above date(07/26/2014) falls.
I need output date in MM/dd/YYYY format .
basically I need output as 07/21/2014.
Please give me the java program. I have done upto this
SimpleDateFormat formatter1 = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yy");
String date ="07/26/2014";
Date Currentdate = formatter1.parse(date);
int currentday=Currentdate.getDay();
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
calendar.setTime(Currentdate);
int startDay=currentday-calendar.getFirstDayOfWeek();
Currentdate.setDate(contacteddate.getDate()-startDay);
System.out.println(contacteddate.getDate());
}
The above code only gives me the date.. I need date along with month and year in "MM/dd/YYYY"
Please help
I would do it this way
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
calendar.setTime(Currentdate);
calendar.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, calendar.getFirstDayOfWeek());
After setting time to Calendar
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
calendar.setTime(Currentdate);
use
calendar.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, 1)
and then
simpleFormat.format(calendar.getTime());
This will help you.
// Get calendar set to current date and time
Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
// Set the calendar to monday of the current week
c.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, Calendar.MONDAY);
// Print dates of the current week starting on Monday
DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE dd/MM/yyyy");
for (int i = 0; i < 1; i++) {
System.out.println(df.format(c.getTime()));
c.add(Calendar.DATE, 1);
}
The problem with all presented solutions so far is not to specify what exactly the week definition is. Week definitions are either technically specified like in ISO-8601-standard (Monday as first day of week and first calendar week of year containing at least four days), or they use localized rules (for example in US a week begins by Sunday!).
Due to the requirement that the OP wants "07/21/2014" as first day of week around "07/26/2014" it seems that ISO-8601 is what the OP really wants. But code like
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
c.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, calendar.getFirstDayOfWeek());
...
will not work in a country like US or an application server located in US. Counter example:
// simulating a US-located application server where this code is running
GregorianCalendar calendar = new GregorianCalendar(Locale.US);
calendar.set(2014, Calendar.JULY, 26);
calendar.getTime(); // avoid ugly side effects in calendar date handling
calendar.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK, calendar.getFirstDayOfWeek());
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
System.out.println(sdf.format(calendar.getTime())); // output: 2014-07-20
If the OP changes the choosen locale to let's say Locale.FRANCE (applying ISO-rules) then the OP can achieve his goal using the traditional Java-date-and-time-library.
It should be noted however that week handling using the java.util.Calendar-stuff is often confusing and hard. For example: Without the strange getter-call (calendar.getTime()) which enforces update of internal calculation the result would be: 2014-07-06 (surely not what OP wants).
Therefore I recommend following other libraries to choose a generic approach compatible with different week definitions:
a) Java-8 (built-in library JSR-310 aka java.time):
LocalDate date = LocalDate.of(2014, 7, 26);
TemporalField dowField = WeekFields.ISO.dayOfWeek();
date = date.with(dowField, dowField.range().getMinimum());
System.out.println(date); // output: 2014-07-21
Note: Avoid code like date.with(DayOfWeek.MONDAY) because in that case the java.time-library cannot evaluate the underlying week rules which possibly deviate from ISO-8601 (here choosen: WeekFields.ISO, but it might also be WeekFields.SUNDAY_START).
b) my own library Time4J:
PlainDate date = PlainDate.of(2014, 7, 26);
date = date.with(Weekmodel.ISO.localDayOfWeek().minimized());
System.out.println(date); // output: 2014-07-21
c) If you know in advance that you only want ISO-8601-week-rules then you might also consider a simpler approach in Java-8 or instead its predecessor JodaTime:
// Java-8 applying ISO-8601-rules
LocalDate date = LocalDate.of(2014, 7, 26);
date = date.with(DayOfWeek.MONDAY);
// Joda-Time
LocalDate date = new LocalDate(2014, 7, 26);
date = date.dayOfWeek().withMinimumValue();
Given:
private Calendar calendarInstance = Calendar.getInstance();
public long inMillis() {
calendarInstance.set(year, month, day, hour, min);
return calendarInstance.getTimeInMillis();
}
As i understand it, the result comes back with time since the epoch, in milliseconds
The current time as UTC milliseconds from the epoch.
Given that my test always sets the objects the same, why are results coming up different as time goes by?
detailedMoment = new MomentInTime(2012, 11, 1, 19, 9);
detailedMoment.inMillis() // gives different results as time passes by
UPDATE:
I continue to second guess myself due to
For the same time period i get
1_351_796_940 // http://www.epochconverter.com
1_354_410_540 // my number
I think you should use clear(). If you do that it will return you the exact number of miliseconds each time.
public long inMillis() {
calendarInstance.clear();
calendarInstance.set(year, month, day, hour, min);
return calendarInstance.getTimeInMillis();
}
From Java doc
Sets all the calendar field values and the time value (millisecond offset from the Epoch) of this Calendar undefined. This means that isSet() will return false for all the calendar fields, and the date and time calculations will treat the fields as if they had never been set. A Calendar implementation class may use its specific default field values for date/time calculations. For example, GregorianCalendar uses 1970 if the YEAR field value is undefined.
A Sample program
public class MomentInTime {
private static Calendar calendarInstance = Calendar.getInstance();
public static long inMillis() {
calendarInstance.clear();
calendarInstance.set(2012, 10, 1, 19, 9);
return calendarInstance.getTimeInMillis();
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
System.out.println(inMillis()/1000);
Thread.sleep(300);
}
}
}
Output:
1351777140
Well you don't set the seconds or milliseconds.
JavaDoc says:
Sets the year, month, day of the month, hour of day and minute fields.
Other fields are not changed.
I guess that is because you are missing seconds and milliseconds of the Calendar.getInstance().
You are just replacing year, month, day, hour, min of Calendar object, but every time when you get calendar instance, seconds and milliseconds of that particular point in time may change.
java.time
The java.util Date-Time API and their formatting API, SimpleDateFormat are outdated and error-prone. It is recommended to stop using them completely and switch to the modern Date-Time API*.
Solution using java.time, the modern Date-Time API:
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.ZoneOffset;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Test
System.out.println(inMillis(2021,6,19,8,30));
}
public static long inMillis(int year, int month, int day, int hour, int min) {
return LocalDate.now()
.atStartOfDay(ZoneOffset.UTC)
.withYear(year)
.withMonth(month)
.withDayOfMonth(day)
.withHour(hour)
.withMinute(min)
.toInstant()
.toEpochMilli();
}
}
Output:
1624091400000
ONLINE DEMO
This is how http://www.epochconverter.com displays it:
Learn more about the modern Date-Time API from Trail: Date Time.
Update:
A simpler version (thanks to Ole V.V.):
public static long inMillis(int year, int month, int day, int hour, int min) {
return OffsetDateTime.of(year, month, day, hour, min, 0, 0, ZoneOffset.UTC)
.toInstant()
.toEpochMilli();
}
* For any reason, if you have to stick to Java 6 or Java 7, you can use ThreeTen-Backport which backports most of the java.time functionality to Java 6 & 7. If you are working for an Android project and your Android API level is still not compliant with Java-8, check Java 8+ APIs available through desugaring and How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project.
Is it a valid way of comparing dates:
Calendar someCalendar1 = Calendar.getInstance(); // current date/time
someCalendar1.add(Calendar.DATE, -14);
Calendar someCalendar2 = Calendar.getInstance();
someCalendar2.setTime(someDate); // someDate is in the format of MM/dd/yyyy
if(someCalendar2.compareTo(someCalendar1) < 0){
...Code...
}
...or is there a better approach?
Date implements comparable itself so there's no reason to wrap it into calendar:
Calendar someCalendar1 = Calendar.getInstance(); // current date/time
someCalendar1.add(Calendar.DATE, -14);
if (someDate.compareTo(someCalendar1.getTime()) < 0) {
...Code...
}
Date also has convenient after() and before() methods that make the above comparison easier to read:
if (someDate.before(someCalendar1.getTime())) {
...Code...
}
Finally, if you're dealing with date / time a lot, do consider using Joda Time instead of built-in java classes. It's MUCH more convenient and functional:
DateTime dt = new DateTime().minusWeeks(2);
if (new DateTime(someDate).isBefore(dt)) {
...Code...
}
It's valid, but you're slightly confused about someDate - Calendar.setTime takes a java.util.Date, which is just a wrapper around a long indicating the number of milliseconds since midnight Jan 1st 1970, UTC. It's not "in the format MM/dd/yyy" - that's a string representation, not a java.util.Date. If it happens to print something out in the format MM/dd/yyyy, that's just what Date.toString is doing for you - it's not inherently part of the format.
As an aside, I would personally recommend that you avoid java.util.Date and java.util.Calendar completely and use Joda Time instead. It's a much better API.
As one example of why Joda is better, take Daylight Savings Time.
If you're measuring "one day" as 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 milliseconds, the Date library - and the Calendar library - both forget that there's one day in the year with 25 hours, and another with 23. You will occasionally screw up date calculations if you rely solely on the Java classes built into the J2SE API.
Joda is half likely to be the drop-in replacement for GregorianCalendar, Calendar, and Date in a future version of Java.
It’s an old question now. For it to be helpful to the readers of today and tomorrow it needs a modern answer. That’s what I am providing here.
java.time
LocalDate someDate1 = LocalDate.now(ZoneId.of("Africa/Lusaka"))
.minusDays(14);
LocalDate someDate2 = LocalDate.of(2019, Month.OCTOBER, 11);
if (someDate2.isBefore(someDate1)) {
System.out.println("" + someDate2 + " is before " + someDate1);
}
When I ran this code today, the output was:
2019-10-11 is before 2019-10-13
While it was valid to use Calendar in 2009, the class was always poorly designed and is now long outdated. I certainly recommend that no one uses it anymore. Instead use java.time, the modern Java date and time API.
Link: Oracle tutorial: Date Time explaining how to use java.time.
It's OK. Also you can use before() and after():
package demo.so;
import java.util.Date;
import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Calendar;
public class Tester {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
Calendar someCalendar1 = Calendar.getInstance(); // current date/time
someCalendar1.add(Calendar.DATE, -11);
DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
Date someDate = df.parse("10/08/2009");
Calendar someCalendar2 = Calendar.getInstance();
someCalendar2.setTime(someDate);
String cal1 = df.format(someCalendar1.getTime());
String cal2 = df.format(someCalendar2.getTime());
if (someCalendar1.equals(someCalendar2))
System.out.println( cal1 + " is the same as " + cal2);
if (someCalendar1.after(someCalendar2))
System.out.println(cal1 + " is after " + cal2);
if (someCalendar1.before(someCalendar2))
System.out.println(cal1 + " is before " + cal2);
}
}
But you shouldn't use Date, is deprecated and a source of troubles with dates handling. Build your own wrapper for GregorianCalendar or use some good library, like Joda.
I would like to have a compareTo method that ignores the time portion of a java.util.Date. I guess there are a number of ways to solve this. What's the simplest way?
Update: while Joda Time was a fine recommendation at the time, use the java.time library from Java 8+ instead where possible.
My preference is to use Joda Time which makes this incredibly easy:
DateTime first = ...;
DateTime second = ...;
LocalDate firstDate = first.toLocalDate();
LocalDate secondDate = second.toLocalDate();
return firstDate.compareTo(secondDate);
EDIT: As noted in comments, if you use DateTimeComparator.getDateOnlyInstance() it's even simpler :)
// TODO: consider extracting the comparator to a field.
return DateTimeComparator.getDateOnlyInstance().compare(first, second);
("Use Joda Time" is the basis of almost all SO questions which ask about java.util.Date or java.util.Calendar. It's a thoroughly superior API. If you're doing anything significant with dates/times, you should really use it if you possibly can.)
If you're absolutely forced to use the built in API, you should create an instance of Calendar with the appropriate date and using the appropriate time zone. You could then set each field in each calendar out of hour, minute, second and millisecond to 0, and compare the resulting times. Definitely icky compared with the Joda solution though :)
The time zone part is important: java.util.Date is always based on UTC. In most cases where I've been interested in a date, that's been a date in a specific time zone. That on its own will force you to use Calendar or Joda Time (unless you want to account for the time zone yourself, which I don't recommend.)
Quick reference for android developers
//Add joda library dependency to your build.gradle file
dependencies {
...
implementation 'joda-time:joda-time:2.9.9'
}
Sample code (example)
DateTimeComparator dateTimeComparator = DateTimeComparator.getDateOnlyInstance();
Date myDateOne = ...;
Date myDateTwo = ...;
int retVal = dateTimeComparator.compare(myDateOne, myDateTwo);
if(retVal == 0)
//both dates are equal
else if(retVal < 0)
//myDateOne is before myDateTwo
else if(retVal > 0)
//myDateOne is after myDateTwo
Apache commons-lang is almost ubiquitous. So what about this?
if (DateUtils.isSameDay(date1, date2)) {
// it's same
} else if (date1.before(date2)) {
// it's before
} else {
// it's after
}
If you really want to use the java.util.Date, you would do something like this:
public class TimeIgnoringComparator implements Comparator<Date> {
public int compare(Date d1, Date d2) {
if (d1.getYear() != d2.getYear())
return d1.getYear() - d2.getYear();
if (d1.getMonth() != d2.getMonth())
return d1.getMonth() - d2.getMonth();
return d1.getDate() - d2.getDate();
}
}
or, using a Calendar instead (preferred, since getYear() and such are deprecated)
public class TimeIgnoringComparator implements Comparator<Calendar> {
public int compare(Calendar c1, Calendar c2) {
if (c1.get(Calendar.YEAR) != c2.get(Calendar.YEAR))
return c1.get(Calendar.YEAR) - c2.get(Calendar.YEAR);
if (c1.get(Calendar.MONTH) != c2.get(Calendar.MONTH))
return c1.get(Calendar.MONTH) - c2.get(Calendar.MONTH);
return c1.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH) - c2.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH);
}
}
My preference would be to use the Joda library insetad of java.util.Date directly, as Joda makes a distinction between date and time (see YearMonthDay and DateTime classes).
However, if you do wish to use java.util.Date I would suggest writing a utility method; e.g.
public static Date setTimeToMidnight(Date date) {
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
calendar.setTime( date );
calendar.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
return calendar.getTime();
}
Any opinions on this alternative?
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd");
sdf.format(date1).equals(sdf.format(date2));
If you want to compare only the month, day and year of two dates, following code works for me:
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd");
sdf.format(date1).equals(sdf.format(date2));
Thanks Rob.
tl;dr
myJavaUtilDate1.toInstant()
.atZone( ZoneId.of( "America/Montreal" ) )
.toLocalDate()
.isEqual (
myJavaUtilDate2.toInstant()
.atZone( ZoneId.of( "America/Montreal" ) )
.toLocalDate()
)
Avoid legacy date-time classes
Avoid the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as Date & Calendar, now supplanted by the java.time classes.
Using java.time
A java.util.Date represents a moment on the timeline in UTC. The equivalent in java.time is Instant. You may convert using new methods added to the legacy class.
Instant instant1 = myJavaUtilDate1.toInstant();
Instant instant2 = myJavaUtilDate2.toInstant();
You want to compare by date. A time zone is crucial in determining a date. For any given moment, the date varies around the globe by zone. For example, a few minutes after midnight in Paris France is a new day while still “yesterday” in Montréal Québec.
Specify a proper time zone name in the format of continent/region, such as America/Montreal, Africa/Casablanca, or Pacific/Auckland. Never use the 3-4 letter abbreviation such as EST or IST as they are not true time zones, not standardized, and not even unique(!).
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "America/Montreal" );
Apply the ZoneId to the Instant to get a ZonedDateTime.
ZonedDateTime zdt1 = instant1.atZone( z );
ZonedDateTime zdt2 = instant2.atZone( z );
The LocalDate class represents a date-only value without time-of-day and without time zone. We can extract a LocalDate from a ZonedDateTime, effectively eliminating the time-of-day portion.
LocalDate localDate1 = zdt1.toLocalDate();
LocalDate localDate2 = zdt2.toLocalDate();
Now compare, using methods such as isEqual, isBefore, and isAfter.
Boolean sameDate = localDate1.isEqual( localDate2 );
See this code run live at IdeOne.com.
instant1: 2017-03-25T04:13:10.971Z | instant2: 2017-03-24T22:13:10.972Z
zdt1: 2017-03-25T00:13:10.971-04:00[America/Montreal] | zdt2: 2017-03-24T18:13:10.972-04:00[America/Montreal]
localDate1: 2017-03-25 | localDate2: 2017-03-24
sameDate: false
About java.time
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.
To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
Java SE 8 and SE 9 and later
Built-in.
Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and SE 7
Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
The ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above) for Android specifically.
See How to use ThreeTenABP….
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.
I too prefer Joda Time, but here's an alternative:
long oneDay = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000
long d1 = first.getTime() / oneDay
long d2 = second.getTime() / oneDay
d1 == d2
EDIT
I put the UTC thingy below in case you need to compare dates for a specific timezone other than UTC. If you do have such a need, though, then I really advise going for Joda.
long oneDay = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000
long hoursFromUTC = -4 * 60 * 60 * 1000 // EST with Daylight Time Savings
long d1 = (first.getTime() + hoursFromUTC) / oneDay
long d2 = (second.getTime() + hoursFromUTC) / oneDay
d1 == d2
Already mentioned apache commons-utils:
org.apache.commons.lang.time.DateUtils.truncate(date, Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH)
gives you Date object containing only date, without time, and you can compare it with Date.compareTo
If you're using Java 8, you should use the java.time.* classes to compare dates - it's preferred to the various java.util.* classes
eg; https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/time/LocalDate.html
LocalDate date1 = LocalDate.of(2016, 2, 14);
LocalDate date2 = LocalDate.of(2015, 5, 23);
date1.isAfter(date2);
I am afraid there is no method of comparing two dates that could be called "easy" or "simple".
When comparing two time instances with any sort of reduced precision (e.g. just comparing dates), you must always take into account how time zone affects the comparison.
If date1 is specifying an event that occurred in +2 timezone and date2 is specifying an event that occurred in EST, for example, you must take care to properly understand the implications of the comparison.
Is your purpose to figure out if the two events occurred in the same calendar date in their own respective time zones? Or do You need to know if the two dates fall into the same calendar date in a specific time zone (UTC or your local TZ, for example).
Once you figure out what it is actually that You are trying to compare, it is just a matter of getting the year-month-date triple in an appropriate time zone and do the comparison.
Joda time might make the actual comparison operation look much cleaner, but the semantics of the comparison are still something You need to figure out yourself.
Simply Check DAY_OF_YEAR in combination with YEAR property
boolean isSameDay =
firstCal.get(Calendar.YEAR) == secondCal.get(Calendar.YEAR) &&
firstCal.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR) == secondCal.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR)
EDIT:
Now we can use the power of Kotlin extension functions
fun Calendar.isSameDay(second: Calendar): Boolean {
return this[Calendar.YEAR] == second[Calendar.YEAR] && this[Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR] == second[Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR]
}
fun Calendar.compareDatesOnly(other: Calendar): Int {
return when {
isSameDay(other) -> 0
before(other) -> -1
else -> 1
}
}
If you just want to compare only two dates without time, then following code might help you:
final SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd");
Date dLastUpdateDate = dateFormat.parse(20111116);
Date dCurrentDate = dateFormat.parse(dateFormat.format(new Date()));
if (dCurrentDate.after(dLastUpdateDate))
{
add your logic
}
I don't know it is new think or else, but i show you as i done
SimpleDateFormat dtf = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
Date td_date = new Date();
String first_date = dtf.format(td_date); //First seted in String
String second_date = "30/11/2020"; //Second date you can set hear in String
String result = (first_date.equals(second_date)) ? "Yes, Its Equals":"No, It is not Equals";
System.out.println(result);
Here is a solution from this blog: http://brigitzblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/java-compare-dates.html
long milliseconds1 = calendar1.getTimeInMillis();
long milliseconds2 = calendar2.getTimeInMillis();
long diff = milliseconds2 - milliseconds1;
long diffDays = diff / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
System.out.println("Time in days: " + diffDays + " days.");
i.e. you can see if the time difference in milliseconds is less than the length of one day.
`
SimpleDateFormat sdf= new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy")
Date date1=sdf.parse("03/25/2015");
Date currentDate= sdf.parse(sdf.format(new Date()));
return date1.compareTo(currentDate);
`
Using http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/commons-lang/commons-lang
Date date1 = new Date();
Date date2 = new Date();
if (DateUtils.truncatedCompareTo(date1, date2, Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH) == 0)
// TRUE
else
// FALSE
In Java 8 you can use LocalDate which is very similar to the one from Joda Time.
public Date saveDateWithoutTime(Date date) {
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
calendar.setTime( date );
calendar.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.HOUR, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
return calendar.getTime();
}
This will help you to compare dates without considering the time.
Using the getDateInstance of SimpleDateFormat, we can compare only two date object without time. Execute the below code.
public static void main(String[] args) {
Date date1 = new Date();
Date date2 = new Date();
DateFormat dfg = SimpleDateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.DATE_FIELD);
String dateDtr1 = dfg.format(date1);
String dateDtr2 = dfg.format(date2);
System.out.println(dateDtr1+" : "+dateDtr2);
System.out.println(dateDtr1.equals(dateDtr2));
}
Another Simple compare method based on the answers here and my mentor guidance
public static int compare(Date d1, Date d2) {
Calendar c1 = Calendar.getInstance();
Calendar c2 = Calendar.getInstance();
c1.setTime(d1);
c1.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
c1.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
c1.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
c1.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
c2.setTime(d2);
c2.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
c2.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
c2.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
c2.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
return c1.getTime().compareTo(c2.getTime());
}
EDIT:
According to #Jonathan Drapeau, the code above fail some cases (I would like to see those cases, please) and he suggested the following as I understand:
public static int compare2(Date d1, Date d2) {
Calendar c1 = Calendar.getInstance();
Calendar c2 = Calendar.getInstance();
c1.clear();
c2.clear();
c1.set(Calendar.YEAR, d1.getYear());
c1.set(Calendar.MONTH, d1.getMonth());
c1.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, d1.getDay());
c2.set(Calendar.YEAR, d2.getYear());
c2.set(Calendar.MONTH, d2.getMonth());
c2.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, d2.getDay());
return c1.getTime().compareTo(c2.getTime());
}
Please notice that, the Date class is deprecated cause it was not amenable to internationalization. The Calendar class is used instead!
First, be aware that this operation depends on the time zone. So choose whether you want to do it in UTC, in the computer’s time zone, in your own favourite time zone or where. If you are not yet convinced it matters, see my example at the bottom of this answer.
Since your question isn’t quite clear about this, I am assuming that you have a class with an instance field representing a point in time and implementing Comparable, and you want the natural ordering of your objects to be by the date, but not the time, of that field. For example:
public class ArnesClass implements Comparable<ArnesClass> {
private static final ZoneId arnesTimeZone = ZoneId.systemDefault();
private Instant when;
#Override
public int compareTo(ArnesClass o) {
// question is what to put here
}
}
Java 8 java.time classes
I have taken the freedom of changing the type of your instance field from Date to Instant, the corresponding class in Java 8. I promise to return to the treatment of Date below. I have also added a time zone constant. You may set it to ZoneOffset.UTC or ZoneId.of("Europe/Stockholm") or what you find appropriate (setting it to a ZoneOffset works because ZoneOffset is a subclass of ZoneId).
I have chosen to show the solution using the Java 8 classes. You asked for the simplest way, right? :-) Here’s the compareTo method you asked for:
public int compareTo(ArnesClass o) {
LocalDate dateWithoutTime = when.atZone(arnesTimeZone).toLocalDate();
LocalDate otherDateWithoutTime = o.when.atZone(arnesTimeZone).toLocalDate();
return dateWithoutTime.compareTo(otherDateWithoutTime);
}
If you never need the time part of when, it is of course easier to declare when a LocalDate and skip all conversions. Then we don’t have to worry about the time zone anymore either.
Now suppose that for some reason you cannot declare your when field an Instant or you want to keep it an old-fashioned Date. If you can still use Java 8, just convert it to Instant, then do as before:
LocalDate dateWithoutTime = when.toInstant().atZone(arnesTimeZone).toLocalDate();
Similarly for o.when.
No Java 8?
If you cannot use java 8, there are two options:
Solve it using one of the old classes, either Calendar or SimpleDateFormat.
Use the backport of the Java 8 date and time classes to Java 6 and 7, then just do as above. I include a link at the bottom. Do not use JodaTime. JodaTime was probably a good suggestion when the answers recommending it were written; but JodaTime is now in maintenance mode, so the ThreeTen backport is a better and more futureproof option.
The old-fashioned ways
Adamski’s answer shows you how to strip the time part off a Date using the Calendar class. I suggest you use getInstance(TimeZone) to obtain the Calendar instance for the time zone you want. As an alternative you may use the idea from the second half of Jorn’s answer.
Using SimpleDateFormat is really an indirect way of using Calendar since a SimpleDateFormat contains a Calendar object. However, you may find it less troublesome than using Calendar directly:
private static final TimeZone arnesTimeZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone("Europe/Stockholm");
private static final DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd");
static {
formatter.setTimeZone(arnesTimeZone);
}
private Date when;
#Override
public int compareTo(ArnesClass o) {
return formatter.format(when).compareTo(formatter.format(o.when));
}
This was inspired by Rob’s answer.
Time zone dependency
Why do we have to pick a specific time zone? Say that we want to compare two times that in UTC are March 24 0:00 (midnight) and 12:00 (noon). If you do that in CET (say, Europe/Paris), they are 1 am and 1 pm on March 24, that is, the same date. In New York (Eastern Daylight Time), they are 20:00 on March 23 and 8:00 on March 24, that is, not the same date. So it makes a difference which time zone you pick. If you just rely on the computer’s default, you may be in for surprises when someone tries to run your code on a computer in another place in this globalized world.
Link
Link to ThreeTen Backport, the backport of the Java 8 date and time classes to Java 6 and 7: http://www.threeten.org/threetenbp/.
My proposition:
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.set(1999,10,01); // nov 1st, 1999
cal.set(Calendar.AM_PM,Calendar.AM);
cal.set(Calendar.HOUR,0);
cal.set(Calendar.MINUTE,0);
cal.set(Calendar.SECOND,0);
cal.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND,0);
// date column in the Thought table is of type sql date
Thought thought = thoughtDao.getThought(date, language);
Assert.assertEquals(cal.getTime(), thought.getDate());
Using Apache commons you can do:
import org.apache.commons.lang3.time.DateUtils
DateUtils.truncatedEquals(first, second, Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH)
public static Date getZeroTimeDate(Date fecha) {
Date res = fecha;
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
calendar.setTime( fecha );
calendar.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
calendar.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
res = calendar.getTime();
return res;
}
Date currentDate = getZeroTimeDate(new Date());// get current date
this is the simplest way to solve this problem.
I solved this by comparing by timestamp:
Calendar last = Calendar.getInstance();
last.setTimeInMillis(firstTimeInMillis);
Calendar current = Calendar.getInstance();
if (last.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH) != current.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH)) {
//not the same day
}
I avoid to use Joda Time because on Android uses a huge space. Size matters. ;)
Another solution using Java 8 and Instant, is using the truncatedTo method
Returns a copy of this Instant truncated to the specified unit.
Example:
#Test
public void dateTruncate() throws InterruptedException {
Instant now = Instant.now();
Thread.sleep(1000*5);
Instant later = Instant.now();
assertThat(now, not(equalTo(later)));
assertThat(now.truncatedTo(ChronoUnit.DAYS), equalTo(later.truncatedTo(ChronoUnit.DAYS)));
}
// Create one day 00:00:00 calendar
int oneDayTimeStamp = 1523017440;
Calendar oneDayCal = Calendar.getInstance();
oneDayCal.setTimeInMillis(oneDayTimeStamp * 1000L);
oneDayCal.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
oneDayCal.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
oneDayCal.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
oneDayCal.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
// Create current day 00:00:00 calendar
Calendar currentCal = Calendar.getInstance();
currentCal.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
currentCal.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
currentCal.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
currentCal.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
if (oneDayCal.compareTo(currentCal) == 0) {
// Same day (excluding time)
}
If you strictly want to use Date ( java.util.Date ), or without any use of external Library. Use this :
public Boolean compareDateWithoutTime(Date d1, Date d2) {
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd");
return sdf.format(d1).equals(sdf.format(d2));
}
Date today = new Date();
Date endDate = new Date();//this
endDate.setTime(endDate.getTime() - ((endDate.getHours()*60*60*1000) + (endDate.getMinutes()*60*1000) + (endDate.getSeconds()*1000)));
today.setTime(today.getTime() - ((today.getHours()*60*60*1000) + (today.getMinutes()*60*1000) + (today.getSeconds()*1000)));
System.out.println(endDate.compareTo(today) <= 0);
I am simply setting hours/minutes/second to 0 so no issue with the time as time will be same now for both dates. now you simply use compareTo. This method helped to find "if dueDate is today" where true means Yes.