How to get date and time in Java

In Java, when it about the date, time and formatting date is mostly about three classes: Date, Calendar, and SimpleDateFormat.

Using Date

To create a Date object containing the current data:

Date date = new Date();

Using Calendar

To create a Date object containing the current date using Calendar class:

Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
Date date2 = calendar.getTime();

Formatter

To format the date in different formats SimpleDateFormat can be used.

String FORMAT = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
DateFormat formater = new SimpleDateFormat(FORMAT);

Here are some formats examples.

Example

import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Date;

public class DateTests {
	
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		String FORMAT = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
		DateFormat formater = new SimpleDateFormat(FORMAT);
		
		System.out.println("Date Formater Example");
		System.out.println();
		
		Date date1 = new Date();	
		System.out.println("Using Date: " + formater.format(date1));
		System.out.println();
		
		Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
		Date date2 = calendar.getTime();
		System.out.println("Using Calendar: " +formater.format(date2));
	}
}

Output

Date Formater Example

Using Date: 2016-05-05 16:02:13

Using Calendar: 2016-05-05 16:02:13

References

• Date
• Calendar
• SimpleDateFormat