153

I need a date object for date 2014-02-11. I can't directly create it like this,

Date myDate = new Date(2014, 02, 11);

So I'm doing like follows,

Calendar myCalendar = new GregorianCalendar(2014, 2, 11);
Date myDate = myCalendar.getTime();

Is there any easy way to create date object in java?

6
  • 10
    What's not easy in your approach ? Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 12:56
  • 3
    "Is there any easy way". What makes you think that is not as easy as it can be? Times and dates are much more complicated than you might think. There are multiple calendars and multiple time-zones. Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 12:57
  • 6
    One line like, Date myDate = new GregorianCalendar(2014, 2, 11).getTime();? Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 12:57
  • 2
    Beware of using a leading zero in an integer literal as seen in this Question, 02. In Java, that means an octal (base-8) number rather than a decimal (base-10) number. Commented Nov 26, 2015 at 3:35
  • 4
    FYI, the terribly troublesome old date-time classes such as java.util.Date, java.util.Calendar, and java.text.SimpleDateFormat are now legacy, supplanted by the java.time classes built into Java 8 and later. See Tutorial by Oracle. Commented Aug 15, 2018 at 19:28

9 Answers 9

168

Gotcha: passing 2 as month may give you unexpected result: in Calendar API, month is zero-based. 2 actually means March.

I don't know what is an "easy" way that you are looking for as I feel that using Calendar is already easy enough.

Remember to use correct constants for month:

 Date date = new GregorianCalendar(2014, Calendar.FEBRUARY, 11).getTime();

Another way is to make use of DateFormat, which I usually have a util like this:

 public static Date parseDate(String date) {
     try {
         return new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").parse(date);
     } catch (ParseException e) {
         return null;
     }
  }

so that I can simply write

Date myDate = parseDate("2014-02-14");

Yet another alternative I prefer: Don't use Java Date/Calendar anymore. Switch to JODA Time or Java Time (aka JSR310, available in JDK 8+). You can use LocalDate to represent a date, which can be easily created by

LocalDate myDate =LocalDate.parse("2014-02-14");
// or
LocalDate myDate2 = new LocalDate(2014, 2, 14);
// or, in JDK 8+ Time
LocalDate myDate3 = LocalDate.of(2014, 2, 14);
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

.toTime() doesn't exist. It should be .getTime() (see Java Docs)
Sorry a typo. Though I think OP already knows the correct method to call :P
Pretty sure you are right. But for those (like me) who have to look it up every time it is needed it is annoying. Thanks for fixing :)
return new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-mm-dd").parse(date) should be return new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").parse(date)
Good catch. Dunno why I made such mistake. Fixing it
80

tl;dr

LocalDate.of( 2014 , 2 , 11 )

If you insist on using the terrible old java.util.Date class, convert from the modern java.time classes.

java.util.Date                        // Terrible old legacy class, avoid using. Represents a moment in UTC. 
.from(                                // New conversion method added to old classes for converting between legacy classes and modern classes.
    LocalDate                         // Represents a date-only value, without time-of-day and without time zone.
    .of( 2014 , 2 , 11 )              // Specify year-month-day. Notice sane counting, unlike legacy classes: 2014 means year 2014, 1-12 for Jan-Dec.
    .atStartOfDay(                    // Let java.time determine first moment of the day. May *not* start at 00:00:00 because of anomalies such as Daylight Saving Time (DST).
        ZoneId.of( "Africa/Tunis" )   // Specify time zone as `Continent/Region`, never the 3-4 letter pseudo-zones like `PST`, `EST`, or `IST`. 
    )                                 // Returns a `ZonedDateTime`.
    .toInstant()                      // Adjust from zone to UTC. Returns a `Instant` object, always in UTC by definition.
)                                     // Returns a legacy `java.util.Date` object. Beware of possible data-loss as any microseconds or nanoseconds in the `Instant` are truncated to milliseconds in this `Date` object.   

Details

If you want "easy", you should be using the new java.time package in Java 8 rather than the notoriously troublesome java.util.Date & .Calendar classes bundled with Java.

java.time

The java.time framework built into Java 8 and later supplants the troublesome old java.util.Date/.Calendar classes.

Date-only

enter image description here

A LocalDate class is offered by java.time to represent a date-only value without any time-of-day or time zone. You do need a time zone to determine a date, as a new day dawns earlier in Paris than in Montréal for example. The ZoneId class is for time zones.

ZoneId zoneId = ZoneId.of( "Asia/Singapore" );
LocalDate today = LocalDate.now( zoneId );

Dump to console:

System.out.println ( "today: " + today + " in zone: " + zoneId );

today: 2015-11-26 in zone: Asia/Singapore

Or use a factory method to specify the year, month, day.

LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.of( 2014 , Month.FEBRUARY , 11 );

localDate: 2014-02-11

Or pass a month number 1-12 rather than a DayOfWeek enum object.

LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.of( 2014 , 2 , 11 );

Time zone

enter image description here

A LocalDate has no real meaning until you adjust it into a time zone. In java.time, we apply a time zone to generate a ZonedDateTime object. That also means a time-of-day, but what time? Usually makes sense to go with first moment of the day. You might think that means the time 00:00:00.000, but not always true because of Daylight Saving Time (DST) and perhaps other anomalies. Instead of assuming that time, we ask java.time to determine the first moment of the day by calling atStartOfDay.

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 zoneId = ZoneId.of( "Asia/Singapore" );
ZonedDateTime zdt = localDate.atStartOfDay( zoneId );

zdt: 2014-02-11T00:00+08:00[Asia/Singapore]

UTC

enter image description here

For back-end work (business logic, database, data storage & exchange) we usually use UTC time zone. In java.time, the Instant class represents a moment on the timeline in UTC. An Instant object can be extracted from a ZonedDateTime by calling toInstant.

Instant instant = zdt.toInstant();

instant: 2014-02-10T16:00:00Z

Convert

You should avoid using java.util.Date class entirely. But if you must interoperate with old code not yet updated for java.time, you can convert back-and-forth. Look to new conversion methods added to the old classes.

java.util.Date d = java.util.from( instant ) ;

…and…

Instant instant = d.toInstant() ;

Table of all date-time types in Java, both modern and legacy


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.

To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.

The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.

You may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. Use a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later. No need for strings, no need for java.sql.* classes. Hibernate 5 & JPA 2.2 support java.time.

Where to obtain the java.time classes?


UPDATE: The Joda-Time library is now in maintenance mode, and advises migration to the java.time classes. I am leaving this section in place for history.

Joda-Time

For one thing, Joda-Time uses sensible numbering so February is 2 not 1. Another thing, a Joda-Time DateTime truly knows its assigned time zone unlike a java.util.Date which seems to have time zone but does not.

And don't forget the time zone. Otherwise you'll be getting the JVM’s default.

DateTimeZone timeZone = DateTimeZone.forID( "Asia/Singapore" );
DateTime dateTimeSingapore = new DateTime( 2014, 2, 11, 0, 0, timeZone );
DateTime dateTimeUtc = dateTimeSingapore.withZone( DateTimeZone.UTC );

java.util.Locale locale = new java.util.Locale( "ms", "SG" ); // Language: Bahasa Melayu (?). Country: Singapore.
String output = DateTimeFormat.forStyle( "FF" ).withLocale( locale ).print( dateTimeSingapore );

Dump to console…

System.out.println( "dateTimeSingapore: " + dateTimeSingapore );
System.out.println( "dateTimeUtc: " + dateTimeUtc );
System.out.println( "output: " + output );

When run…

dateTimeSingapore: 2014-02-11T00:00:00.000+08:00
dateTimeUtc: 2014-02-10T16:00:00.000Z
output: Selasa, 2014 Februari 11 00:00:00 SGT

Conversion

If you need to convert to a java.util.Date for use with other classes…

java.util.Date date = dateTimeSingapore.toDate();

5 Comments

Just one comment. Practice of prefixing zeros in the fields like new DateTime( 2014, 02, 11, 0, 0, timeZone ); is probably not preferrable. Though it works in this case, but, it won't compile for August and September if you are passing 08 and 09 as prefixing an int literal with 0 means octal presentation. It will even give you unexpected values for years before 1000, e.g. new DateTime( 0100, 02, 01, 0, 0, timeZone ); that one may expect it to be 100AD but actually it is 64AD
@AdrianShum Yikes! I never knew an innocent little typo like a leading zero on an integer literal could have such a nasty side-effect. Thanks.
Dear Down-Voter, leave a criticism along with your vote.
"If you insist on using the terrible old java.util.Date class". Many providers do not offer tomcat servers that run on Java beyond JDK7, so, while I would loove to use the newer stuff, some are stuck at the old shit because of others.....
@KimvdLinde Reread my Answer more carefully. Look at the bullets. Find the words “Java SE 6 and Java SE 7”.
23

From Java8:

import java.time.Instant;
import java.util.Date;

Date date = Date.from(Instant.parse("2000-01-01T00:00:00.000Z"))

Comments

22

I think the best way would be using a SimpleDateFormat object.

DateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
String dateString = "2014-02-11";
Date dateObject = sdf.parse(dateString); // Handle the ParseException here

2 Comments

Y.. And be sure to never use YYYY - use yyyy - especially if doing this in reverse with format instead of parse. You get some odd results!!! See here: code.sololearn.com/c0EYUAOc92uQ/#java
Just lost hours trying to fix output when I got to this comment - here is the reason why YYYY wont work... is for the week year... whatever that is - You will get to something like 27 December and the year will be the next year. e.g. docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/12/docs/api/java.base/java/text/…
2

Try this

 Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
    Date todayDate = new Date();
    cal.setTime(todayDate);

    // Set time fields to zero
    cal.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
    todayDate = cal.getTime();

1 Comment

they wanted to set a date, not a time
1
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd yyyy HH:mm:ss", Locale.ENGLISH);
//format as u want

try {
    String dateStart = "June 14 2018 16:02:37";
    cal.setTime(sdf.parse(dateStart));
    //all done
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

5 Comments

The terrible Calendar and SimpleDateFormat classes were supplanted years ago by the java.time classes. Suggesting their use in 2018 is poor advice.
This Answer does not address the specifics of this Question.
By “API levels” I assume you mean Android. But this is not an Android-specific Question. Furthermore, most of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in the ThreeTen-Backport project. Further adapted to Android in the ThreeTenABP project. So, no need to ever use those awful legacy date-time classes. The java.time classes are radically better.
Thanks for this comment.Does this library provides function like date difference and time differences.
Yes. Search Stack Overflow for the many existing Q & A on this topic. And see the ThreeTen-Extra project too (not back-ported to early Android).
0

Simplest ways:

Date date = Date.valueOf("2000-1-1");
LocalDate localdate = LocalDate.of(2000,1,1);
LocalDateTime localDateTime = LocalDateTime.of(2000,1,1,0,0);

4 Comments

One should avoid the first one since the java.sql.Date class that you are using is poorly designed and long outdated. I recommend using LocalDate as in the second line. My habit is LocalDate.of(2000, Month.JANUARY, 1), I find it a bit clearer to read.
and that because answer contains LocalDate declaration, not only asked Date object (not deprecated, and used sometimes)...
@Anonymous The user asked how to create a date, sometimes you have to interact with old code
@WendyG Yes, that happens. I believe the OP asked for a java.util.Date. If someone still needs that for a legacy API: (1) They got a problem since a Date despite its name never was able to represent a date (2) Showing them how to get a hack of a java.sql.Date instead is not a correct answer.
-1
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.HashMap;

public class Solution 
{

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        HashMap<Integer,String> hm = new HashMap<Integer,String>();
        hm.put(1,"SUNDAY");
        hm.put(2,"MONDAY");
        hm.put(3,"TUESDAY");
        hm.put(4,"WEDNESDAY");
        hm.put(5,"THURSDAY");
        hm.put(6,"FRIDAY");
        hm.put(7,"SATURDAY");
        Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
        String month = in.next();
        String day = in.next();
        String year = in.next();

        String format = year + "/" + month + "/" + day;
        Date date = null;
        try
        {
            SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy/MM/dd");
            date = formatter.parse(format);
        }
        catch(Exception e){
        }
        Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
        c.setTime(date);
        int dayOfWeek = c.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK);
        System.out.println(hm.get(dayOfWeek));
    }
}

1 Comment

SimpleDateFormat formatter can be used to format the Date according to us. and then parsing inside the Date Object. Above program shows how to get week days by giving any date.
-6

I think your date comes from php and is written to html (dom) or? I have a php-function to prep all dates and timestamps. This return a formation that is be needed.

$timeForJS = timeop($datetimeFromDatabase['payedon'], 'js', 'local'); // save 10/12/2016 09:20 on var

this format can be used on js to create new Date...

<html>
   <span id="test" data-date="<?php echo $timeForJS; ?>"></span>
   <script>var myDate = new Date( $('#test').attr('data-date') );</script>
</html>

What i will say is, make your a own function to wrap, that make your life easyr. You can us my func as sample but is included in my cms you can not 1 to 1 copy and paste :)

    function timeop($utcTime, $for, $tz_output = 'system')
{
    // echo "<br>Current time ( UTC ): ".$wwm->timeop('now', 'db', 'system');
    // echo "<br>Current time (USER): ".$wwm->timeop('now', 'db', 'local');
    // echo "<br>Current time (USER): ".$wwm->timeop('now', 'D d M Y H:i:s', 'local');
    // echo "<br>Current time with user lang (USER): ".$wwm->timeop('now', 'datetimes', 'local');

    // echo '<br><br>Calculator test is users timezone difference != 0! Tested with "2014-06-27 07:46:09"<br>';
    // echo "<br>Old time (USER -> UTC): ".$wwm->timeop('2014-06-27 07:46:09', 'db', 'system');
    // echo "<br>Old time (UTC -> USER): ".$wwm->timeop('2014-06-27 07:46:09', 'db', 'local');

    /** -- */
    // echo '<br><br>a Time from db if same with user time?<br>';
    // echo "<br>db-time (2019-06-27 07:46:09) time left = ".$wwm->timeleft('2019-06-27 07:46:09', 'max');
    // echo "<br>db-time (2014-06-27 07:46:09) time left = ".$wwm->timeleft('2014-06-27 07:46:09', 'max', 'txt');

    /** -- */
    // echo '<br><br>Calculator test with other formats<br>';
    // echo "<br>2014/06/27 07:46:09: ".$wwm->ntimeop('2014/06/27 07:46:09', 'db', 'system');

    switch($tz_output){
        case 'system':
            $tz = 'UTC';
            break;

        case 'local':
            $tz = $_SESSION['wwm']['sett']['tz'];
            break;

        default:
            $tz = $tz_output;
            break;
    }

    $date = new DateTime($utcTime,  new DateTimeZone($tz));

    if( $tz != 'UTC' ) // Only time converted into different time zone
    {
        // now check at first the difference in seconds
        $offset = $this->tz_offset($tz);
        if( $offset != 0 ){
            $calc = ( $offset >= 0  ) ? 'add' : 'sub';
            // $calc = ( ($_SESSION['wwm']['sett']['tzdiff'] >= 0 AND $tz_output == 'user') OR ($_SESSION['wwm']['sett']['tzdiff'] <= 0 AND $tz_output == 'local') ) ? 'sub' : 'add';
            $offset = ['math' => $calc, 'diff' => abs($offset)];
            $date->$offset['math']( new DateInterval('PT'.$offset['diff'].'S') ); // php >= 5.3 use add() or sub()
        }
    }

    // create a individual output
    switch( $for ){
        case 'js':
            $format = 'm/d/Y H:i'; // Timepicker use only this format m/d/Y H:i without seconds // Sett automatical seconds default to 00
            break;
        case 'js:s':
            $format = 'm/d/Y H:i:s'; // Timepicker use only this format m/d/Y H:i:s with Seconds
            break;
        case 'db':
            $format = 'Y-m-d H:i:s'; // Database use only this format Y-m-d H:i:s
            break;
        case 'date':
        case 'datetime':
        case 'datetimes':
            $format = wwmSystem::$languages[$_SESSION['wwm']['sett']['isolang']][$for.'_format']; // language spezific output
            break;
        default:
            $format = $for;
            break;
    }

    $output = $date->format( $format );

    /** Replacement
     * 
     * D = day short name
     * l = day long name
     * F = month long name
     * M = month short name
     */
    $output = str_replace([
        $date->format('D'),
        $date->format('l'),
        $date->format('F'),
        $date->format('M')
    ],[
        $this->trans('date', $date->format('D')),
        $this->trans('date', $date->format('l')),
        $this->trans('date', $date->format('F')),
        $this->trans('date', $date->format('M'))
    ], $output);

    return $output; // $output->getTimestamp();
}

1 Comment

Why are you answering a >2 year old Java question with an answer in PHP?

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