Converting Epoch time to date string

Question

I have seen this question asked multiple times and none of the answers seem to be what i need.

I have a long type variable which has an epoch time stored in it.

What i want to do is convert it to a String

for example if the epoch time stored was for today the final string would read:

17/03/2012

How would i to this?

Solution 1

Look into SimpleDateFormat

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
sdf.format(new Date(myTimeAsLong));

Solution 2

You'd create a Date from the long - that's easy:

Date date = new Date(epochTime);

Note that epochTime here ought to be in milliseconds since the epoch - if you've got seconds since the epoch, multiply by 1000.

Then you'd create a SimpleDateFormat specifying the relevant pattern, culture and time zone. For example:

SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy", Locale.US);
format.setTimeZone(...);

Then use that to format the date to a string:

String text = format.format(date);

Solution 3

Date date = new Date(String); 

this is deprecated.

solution

  Date date = new Date(1406178443 * 1000L);
  DateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS");
  format.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("Etc/UTC"));
  String formatted = format.format(date);

make sure multiply by 1000L

Solution 4

If the method should be portable, better use the default (local time) TimeZone.getDefault():

String epochToIso8601(long time) {
    String format = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(format, Locale.getDefault());
    sdf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getDefault());
    return sdf.format(new Date(time * 1000));
}

Solution 5

try this

Date date = new Date(1476126532838L);
DateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
format.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("Etc/UTC"));
String formatted = format.format(date);
format.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("Asia/Colombo"));//your zone
formatted = format.format(date);
System.out.println(formatted);

View more solutions

Comments

[nexus490]

What would i put for the Timezone argument?

[nexus490]

Ive got that to print out a string in the correct format but it prints out the incorrect date it gives todays date as 16/00/1970. The Long used was 1332026487.

[Reinard]

It's because you might have to play around with the parameter you pass in the constructor. You can find all display possibilities in the Jav API

[Jon Skeet]

This answer: is printing the minute instead of month; ignores the choice of culture (which is very important); ignores the choice of time zone (which is incredibly important). You've really got to think about these things - it's no help (IMO) to just ignore them.

[Jon Skeet]

@nexus490: Well what time zone do you want to represent the value in? For example, in an hour it will be 18/03/2012 in my time zone, but in the US it will still be 17/03/2012, for the same number of milliseconds since the epoch. What would the right answer be? That's something only you know, as you know your application requirements (hopefully). Maybe you want UTC. Maybe you want the system local time zone. Maybe you want the user's home time zone.

[dbm]

The Long provided by @nexus490 seems to be in seconds (i.e. the "real" epoch format), while the Java implementation of the Date class would need the time in milliseconds. Try multiplying your Long by 1000 and it should work. Besides that, +1000 for Jon Skeet's comment.

[Basil Bourque]

3 problems with this answer. This answer ignores the crucial issue of time zone. This answer uses a different format than requested in the Question. And this answer essentially duplicates three other answers posted months ago. I don't see any value-add here.

[Javad]

Thank for for stressing this: "if you've got seconds since the epoch, multiply by 1000."

[Leo]

Just a minor comment, you need to change the HH:MM:ss.SSS to HH:mm:ss.SSS -- MM is the month, and not minutes.

[harperville]

This is how you'd get milliseconds: long now = Instant.now().toEpochMilli(); Also, import java.time.Instant; and import java.text.SimpleDateFormat; I'm a Java noob and I had to look elsewhere for the full picture. For the sake of being complete, I'm adding this here.

[C.T. Bell]

Perfect! Thank you