Android difference between Two Dates

Question

I have two date like:

String date_1="yyyyMMddHHmmss";
String date_2="yyyyMMddHHmmss";

I want to print the difference like:

2d 3h 45m

How can I do that? Thanks!

Answer 1

When you use Date() to calculate the difference in hours is necessary configure the SimpleDateFormat() in UTC otherwise you get one hour error due to Daylight SavingTime.

Answer 2

Here is the modern answer. It’s good for anyone who either uses Java 8 or later (which doesn’t go for most Android phones yet) or is happy with an external library.

    String date1 = "20170717141000";
    String date2 = "20170719175500";

    DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyyMMddHHmmss");
    Duration diff = Duration.between(LocalDateTime.parse(date1, formatter), 
                                     LocalDateTime.parse(date2, formatter));

    if (diff.isZero()) {
        System.out.println("0m");
    } else {
        long days = diff.toDays();
        if (days != 0) {
            System.out.print("" + days + "d ");
            diff = diff.minusDays(days);
        }
        long hours = diff.toHours();
        if (hours != 0) {
            System.out.print("" + hours + "h ");
            diff = diff.minusHours(hours);
        }
        long minutes = diff.toMinutes();
        if (minutes != 0) {
            System.out.print("" + minutes + "m ");
            diff = diff.minusMinutes(minutes);
        }
        long seconds = diff.getSeconds();
        if (seconds != 0) {
            System.out.print("" + seconds + "s ");
        }
        System.out.println();
    }

This prints

2d 3h 45m 

In my own opinion the advantage is not so much that it is shorter (it’s not much), but leaving the calculations to an standard library is less errorprone and gives you clearer code. These are great advantages. The reader is not burdened with recognizing constants like 24, 60 and 1000 and verifying that they are used correctly.

I am using the modern Java date & time API (described in JSR-310 and also known under this name). To use this on Android, get the ThreeTenABP, see this question: How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project. To use it with other Java 6 or 7, get ThreeTen Backport. With Java 8 and later it is built-in.

With Java 9 it will be still a bit easier since the Duration class is extended with methods to give you the days part, hours part, minutes part and seconds part separately so you don’t need the subtractions. See an example in my answer here.

Answer 3

DateTimeUtils obj = new DateTimeUtils();
SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/M/yyyy hh:mm:ss");

try {
    Date date1 = simpleDateFormat.parse("10/10/2013 11:30:10");
    Date date2 = simpleDateFormat.parse("13/10/2013 20:35:55");

    obj.printDifference(date1, date2);

} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

//1 minute = 60 seconds
//1 hour = 60 x 60 = 3600
//1 day = 3600 x 24 = 86400
public void printDifference(Date startDate, Date endDate) { 
    //milliseconds
    long different = endDate.getTime() - startDate.getTime();

    System.out.println("startDate : " + startDate);
    System.out.println("endDate : "+ endDate);
    System.out.println("different : " + different);

    long secondsInMilli = 1000;
    long minutesInMilli = secondsInMilli * 60;
    long hoursInMilli = minutesInMilli * 60;
    long daysInMilli = hoursInMilli * 24;

    long elapsedDays = different / daysInMilli;
    different = different % daysInMilli;

    long elapsedHours = different / hoursInMilli;
    different = different % hoursInMilli;

    long elapsedMinutes = different / minutesInMilli;
    different = different % minutesInMilli;

    long elapsedSeconds = different / secondsInMilli;

    System.out.printf(
        "%d days, %d hours, %d minutes, %d seconds%n", 
        elapsedDays, elapsedHours, elapsedMinutes, elapsedSeconds);
}

out put is :

startDate : Thu Oct 10 11:30:10 SGT 2013
endDate : Sun Oct 13 20:35:55 SGT 2013
different : 291945000
3 days, 9 hours, 5 minutes, 45 seconds

Answer 4

It will give you difference in months

long milliSeconds1 = calendar1.getTimeInMillis();
long milliSeconds2 = calendar2.getTimeInMillis();
long periodSeconds = (milliSeconds2 - milliSeconds1) / 1000;
long elapsedDays = periodSeconds / 60 / 60 / 24;

System.out.println(String.format("%d months", elapsedDays/30));

Answer 5

This works and convert to String as a Bonus ;)

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    try {
        //Dates to compare
        String CurrentDate=  "09/24/2015";
        String FinalDate=  "09/26/2015";

        Date date1;
        Date date2;

        SimpleDateFormat dates = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");

        //Setting dates
        date1 = dates.parse(CurrentDate);
        date2 = dates.parse(FinalDate);

        //Comparing dates
        long difference = Math.abs(date1.getTime() - date2.getTime());
        long differenceDates = difference / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);

        //Convert long to String
        String dayDifference = Long.toString(differenceDates);

        Log.e("HERE","HERE: " + dayDifference);

    } catch (Exception exception) {
        Log.e("DIDN'T WORK", "exception " + exception);
    }
}

Answer 6

Date userDob = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").parse(dob);
Date today = new Date();
long diff =  today.getTime() - userDob.getTime();
int numOfDays = (int) (diff / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));
int hours = (int) (diff / (1000 * 60 * 60));
int minutes = (int) (diff / (1000 * 60));
int seconds = (int) (diff / (1000));