How to compare dates in Java using comparison operators?

Question

How do I compare dates in Java using comparison operators?

Example:

date1 is 30-10-2017
date2 is 31-10-2017
date3 is 30-10-2018

date2 returns false when it should be true that it is less than date3. How can I return true if the date is less than another date and false otherwise?

This is my code:
return (day < theDate.day) || (month < theDate.month) || (year < theDate.year);

Below is my current solution:

{
  boolean check = false;
  if(year < theDate.year)
  {
      return true;
  }
  if(year > theDate.year)
  {
      return false;
  }
  if(month < theDate.month)
  {
      check = true;
  }
  if(day < theDate.day)
  {
      check = true;
  }
  else
  {
      return false;
  }
  return check;
}

I don't think java accepts comparison operators on dates. but you can use the LocalDate API along with the isBefore and isAfter methods. — Ousmane D.
– Ousmane D., Commented Oct 7, 2017 at 18:19
What is the type of your date-class? (fully qualified) Is it java.util.Date, or is it java.time.LocalDate or something else? — Meno Hochschild
– Meno Hochschild, Commented Oct 7, 2017 at 18:38

Joop Eggen · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-07 18:44:33Z

1

LocalDate date1 = LocalDate.of(2017, 10, 30); // Year, month, day.
LocalDate date2 = LocalDate.of(2017, 10, 31);
LocalDate date3 = LocalDate.of(2018, 10, 30);

System.out.printf("%s before %s? %s%n", date1, date2, date1.isBefore(date2));
System.out.printf("%s before %s? %s%n", date2, date3, date3.isBefore(date3));
System.out.printf("%s before %s? %s%n", date3, date1, date3.isBefore(date1));

If you want to know how to do a comparison yourself:

Compare first year, then month, then day: from most significant to least
For this reason the ISO standard of denoting dates (and times) is 2017-09-30T13:05:01,000 where a text comparison with a representation of the same length suffices.

And the pattern goes:

if years not equal then result found
if months not equal then result found
result is comparison of days

answered Oct 7, 2017 at 18:44

Joop Eggen

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lexicore · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-07 18:19:02Z

0

You can't use relational operators directly, but date/time types typically implement Comparable.

So you should be able to do date1.compareTo(date2) < 0 for logical date1 < date2.

answered Oct 7, 2017 at 18:19

lexicore

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3 Comments

julianrios Over a year ago

I am comparing numeric values I set for the date objects. The fields I am using are integers for day, month, and year. So I am trying to check those values.

lexicore Over a year ago

@julianrios I don't understand what you're trying to say.

julianrios Over a year ago

This is an assignment for my intro to java class. So I'm just a bit lost. I am coding in bluej and I don't believe I can access api for this assignment.

Maksim · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-07 18:20:32Z

0

You should use boolean after(Date date) or boolean before(Date date) for that. For example, date2.before(date3)

answered Oct 7, 2017 at 18:20

Maksim

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4 Comments

julianrios Over a year ago

Sorry I don't understand.

Maksim Over a year ago

@julianrios What class do you use for dates?

julianrios Over a year ago

Is there a way to insert my all of my code? It may be easier to just look at what I have in my fields and methods.

Maksim Over a year ago

@julianrios You can push "edit" under your question and add something

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