How to compare two string dates in Java?
Solution 1
Convert them to an actual Date
object, then call before
.
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy/MM/dd h:m");
System.out.println(sdf.parse(startDate).before(sdf.parse(endDate)));
Recall that parse
will throw a ParseException
, so you should either catch it in this code block, or declare it to be thrown as part of your method signature.
Solution 2
Here is a fully working demo. For date formatting, refer - http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Locale;
public class Dating {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String startDate = "2014/09/12 00:00";
String endDate = "2014/09/13 00:00";
try {
Date start = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm", Locale.ENGLISH)
.parse(startDate);
Date end = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm", Locale.ENGLISH)
.parse(endDate);
System.out.println(start);
System.out.println(end);
if (start.compareTo(end) > 0) {
System.out.println("start is after end");
} else if (start.compareTo(end) < 0) {
System.out.println("start is before end");
} else if (start.compareTo(end) == 0) {
System.out.println("start is equal to end");
} else {
System.out.println("Something weird happened...");
}
} catch (ParseException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Solution 3
tl;dr
Use modern java.time classes to parse the inputs into LocalDateTime
objects by defining a formatting pattern with DateTimeFormatter
, and comparing by calling isBefore
.
java.time
The modern approach uses the java.time classes.
Define a formatting pattern to match your inputs.
Parse as LocalDateTime
objects, as your inputs lack an indicator of time zone or offset-from-UTC.
String startInput = "2014/09/12 00:00";
String stopInput = "2014/09/13 00:00";
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "uuuu/MM/dd HH:mm" );
LocalDateTime start = LocalDateTime.parse( startInput , f ) ;
LocalDateTime stop = LocalDateTime.parse( stopInput , f ) ;
boolean isBefore = start.isBefore( stop ) ;
Dump to console.
System.out.println( start + " is before " + stop + " = " + isBefore );
See this code run live at IdeOne.com.
2014-09-12T00:00 is before 2014-09-13T00:00 = true
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.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
-
Java SE 8, Java SE 9, Java SE 10, Java SE 11, and later - Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
- Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
-
Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
- Most of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
-
Android
- Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
- For earlier Android (<26), the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval
, YearWeek
, YearQuarter
, and more.
Solution 4
Use SimpleDateFormat
to convert to Date
to compare:
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm");
Date start = sdf.parse(startDate);
Date end = sdf.parse(endDate);
System.out.println(start.before(end));
Solution 5
The simplest and safest way would probably be to parse both of these strings as dates, and compare them. You can convert to a date using a SimpleDateFormat, use the before or after method on the date object to compare them.
john
Updated on October 04, 2021Comments
-
john over 2 years
I have two dates in String format like below -
String startDate = "2014/09/12 00:00"; String endDate = "2014/09/13 00:00";
I want to make sure startDate should be less than endDate. startDate should not be greater than endDate.
How can I compare these two dates and return boolean accordingly?