Android: how to get the current day of the week (Monday, etc...) in the user's language?

Question

I want to know what the current day of the week is (Monday, Tuesday...) in the user's local language. For example, "Lundi" "Mardi" etc... if the user is French.

I have read this post, it but it only returns an int, not a string with the day in the user's language: What is the easiest way to get the current day of the week in Android?

More generally, how do you get all the days of the week and all the months of the year written in the user's language ?

I think that this is possible, as for example the Google agenda gives the days and months written in the user's local language.

Solution 1

Try this:

int dayOfWeek = date.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK);  
String weekday = new DateFormatSymbols().getShortWeekdays()[dayOfWeek];

Solution 2

I know already answered but who looking for 'Fri' like this

for Fri -

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE");
Date d = new Date();
String dayOfTheWeek = sdf.format(d);

and who wants full date string they can use 4E for Friday

For Friday-

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE");
Date d = new Date();
String dayOfTheWeek = sdf.format(d);

Enjoy...

Solution 3

To make things shorter You can use this:

android.text.format.DateFormat.format("EEEE", date);

which will return day of the week as a String.

Solution 4

Hers's what I used to get the day names (0-6 means monday - sunday):

public static String getFullDayName(int day) {
    Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
    // date doesn't matter - it has to be a Monday
    // I new that first August 2011 is one ;-)
    c.set(2011, 7, 1, 0, 0, 0);
    c.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, day);
    return String.format("%tA", c);
}

public static String getShortDayName(int day) {
    Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
    c.set(2011, 7, 1, 0, 0, 0);
    c.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, day);
    return String.format("%ta", c);
}

Solution 5

tl;dr

String output = 
    LocalDate.now( ZoneId.of( "America/Montreal" ) )
             .getDayOfWeek()
             .getDisplayName( TextStyle.FULL , Locale.CANADA_FRENCH ) ;

java.time

The java.time classes built into Java 8 and later and back-ported to Java 6 & 7 and to Android include the handy DayOfWeek enum.

The days are numbered according to the standard ISO 8601 definition, 1-7 for Monday-Sunday.

DayOfWeek dow = DayOfWeek.of( 1 );

This enum includes the getDisplayName method to generate a String of the localized translated name of the day.

The Locale object specifies a human language to be used in translation, and specifies cultural norms to decide issues such as capitalization and punctuation.

String output = DayOfWeek.MONDAY.getDisplayName( TextStyle.FULL , Locale.CANADA_FRENCH ) ;

To get today’s date, use the LocalDate class. Note that a time zone is crucial as for any given moment the date varies around the globe.

ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "America/Montreal" );
LocalDate today = LocalDate.now( z );
DayOfWeek dow = today.getDayOfWeek();
String output = dow.getDisplayName( TextStyle.FULL , Locale.CANADA_FRENCH ) ;

Keep in mind that the locale has nothing to do with the time zone.two separate distinct orthogonal issues. You might want a French presentation of a date-time zoned in India (Asia/Kolkata).

Joda-Time

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

The Joda-Time library provides Locale-driven localization of date-time values.

DateTimeZone zone = DateTimeZone.forID( "America/Montreal" );
DateTime now = DateTime.now( zone );

Locale locale = Locale.CANADA_FRENCH;
DateTimeFormatter formatterUnJourQuébécois = DateTimeFormat.forPattern( "EEEE" ).withLocale( locale );

String output = formatterUnJourQuébécois.print( now );

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

output: samedi

---

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….

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Comments

[Admin]

I am getting an error on your 2nd line saying constructor Date is undefined.

[Basil Bourque]

(1) This solution is already covered in the accepted Answer. Explain how yours adds further value, or delete. (2) These classes are now legacy, supplanted by the java.time classes.

[sankar muniyappa]

HI, if you using shortweekdays it showing only one letter.but i need to show first 3 letters of day

[user905686]

Note that to get access to all available locales one should use DateFormatSymbols.getInstance() (though for now it might give the same result).

[Ole V.V.]

That’s unreadable. And you are using the poorly designed classes and long outdated SimpleDateFormat, Date and Calendar (also used in the question).