Convert Java Date to UTC String
Following the useful comments, I've completely rebuilt the date formatter. Usage is supposed to:
- Be short (one liner)
- Represent disposable objects (time zone, format) as Strings
- Support useful, sortable ISO formats and the legacy format from the box
If you consider this code useful, I may publish the source and a JAR in github.
Usage
// The problem - not UTC
Date.toString()
"Tue Jul 03 14:54:24 IDT 2012"
// ISO format, now
PrettyDate.now()
"2012-07-03T11:54:24.256 UTC"
// ISO format, specific date
PrettyDate.toString(new Date())
"2012-07-03T11:54:24.256 UTC"
// Legacy format, specific date
PrettyDate.toLegacyString(new Date())
"Tue Jul 03 11:54:24 UTC 2012"
// ISO, specific date and time zone
PrettyDate.toString(moonLandingDate, "yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss zzz", "CST")
"1969-07-20 03:17:40 CDT"
// Specific format and date
PrettyDate.toString(moonLandingDate, "yyyy-MM-dd")
"1969-07-20"
// ISO, specific date
PrettyDate.toString(moonLandingDate)
"1969-07-20T20:17:40.234 UTC"
// Legacy, specific date
PrettyDate.toLegacyString(moonLandingDate)
"Wed Jul 20 08:17:40 UTC 1969"
Code
(This code is also the subject of a question on Code Review stackexchange)
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.TimeZone;
/**
* Formats dates to sortable UTC strings in compliance with ISO-8601.
*
* @author Adam Matan <[email protected]>
* @see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11294307/convert-java-date-to-utc-string/11294308
*/
public class PrettyDate {
public static String ISO_FORMAT = "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS zzz";
public static String LEGACY_FORMAT = "EEE MMM dd hh:mm:ss zzz yyyy";
private static final TimeZone utc = TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC");
private static final SimpleDateFormat legacyFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat(LEGACY_FORMAT);
private static final SimpleDateFormat isoFormatter = new SimpleDateFormat(ISO_FORMAT);
static {
legacyFormatter.setTimeZone(utc);
isoFormatter.setTimeZone(utc);
}
/**
* Formats the current time in a sortable ISO-8601 UTC format.
*
* @return Current time in ISO-8601 format, e.g. :
* "2012-07-03T07:59:09.206 UTC"
*/
public static String now() {
return PrettyDate.toString(new Date());
}
/**
* Formats a given date in a sortable ISO-8601 UTC format.
*
* <pre>
* <code>
* final Calendar moonLandingCalendar = Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
* moonLandingCalendar.set(1969, 7, 20, 20, 18, 0);
* final Date moonLandingDate = moonLandingCalendar.getTime();
* System.out.println("UTCDate.toString moon: " + PrettyDate.toString(moonLandingDate));
* >>> UTCDate.toString moon: 1969-08-20T20:18:00.209 UTC
* </code>
* </pre>
*
* @param date
* Valid Date object.
* @return The given date in ISO-8601 format.
*
*/
public static String toString(final Date date) {
return isoFormatter.format(date);
}
/**
* Formats a given date in the standard Java Date.toString(), using UTC
* instead of locale time zone.
*
* <pre>
* <code>
* System.out.println(UTCDate.toLegacyString(new Date()));
* >>> "Tue Jul 03 07:33:57 UTC 2012"
* </code>
* </pre>
*
* @param date
* Valid Date object.
* @return The given date in Legacy Date.toString() format, e.g.
* "Tue Jul 03 09:34:17 IDT 2012"
*/
public static String toLegacyString(final Date date) {
return legacyFormatter.format(date);
}
/**
* Formats a date in any given format at UTC.
*
* <pre>
* <code>
* final Calendar moonLandingCalendar = Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
* moonLandingCalendar.set(1969, 7, 20, 20, 17, 40);
* final Date moonLandingDate = moonLandingCalendar.getTime();
* PrettyDate.toString(moonLandingDate, "yyyy-MM-dd")
* >>> "1969-08-20"
* </code>
* </pre>
*
*
* @param date
* Valid Date object.
* @param format
* String representation of the format, e.g. "yyyy-MM-dd"
* @return The given date formatted in the given format.
*/
public static String toString(final Date date, final String format) {
return toString(date, format, "UTC");
}
/**
* Formats a date at any given format String, at any given Timezone String.
*
*
* @param date
* Valid Date object
* @param format
* String representation of the format, e.g. "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm"
* @param timezone
* String representation of the time zone, e.g. "CST"
* @return The formatted date in the given time zone.
*/
public static String toString(final Date date, final String format, final String timezone) {
final TimeZone tz = TimeZone.getTimeZone(timezone);
final SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat(format);
formatter.setTimeZone(tz);
return formatter.format(date);
}
}
tl;dr
You asked:
I was looking for a one-liner like:
Ask and ye shall receive. Convert from terrible legacy class Date to its modern replacement, Instant.
myJavaUtilDate.toInstant().toString()
2020-05-05T19:46:12.912Z
java.time
In Java 8 and later we have the new java.time package built in (Tutorial). Inspired by Joda-Time, defined by JSR 310, and extended by the ThreeTen-Extra project.
The best solution is to sort your date-time objects rather than strings. But if you must work in strings, read on.
An Instant represents a moment on the timeline, basically in UTC (see class doc for precise details). The toString implementation uses the DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT format by default. This format includes zero, three, six or nine digits digits as needed to display fraction of a second up to nanosecond precision.
String output = Instant.now().toString(); // Example: '2015-12-03T10:15:30.120Z'
If you must interoperate with the old Date class, convert to/from java.time via new methods added to the old classes. Example: Date::toInstant.
myJavaUtilDate.toInstant().toString()
You may want to use an alternate formatter if you need a consistent number of digits in the fractional second or if you need no fractional second.
Another route if you want to truncate fractions of a second is to use ZonedDateTime instead of Instant, calling its method to change the fraction to zero.
Note that we must specify a time zone for ZonedDateTime (thus the name). In our case that means UTC. The subclass of ZoneID, ZoneOffset, holds a convenient constant for UTC. If we omit the time zone, the JVM’s current default time zone is implicitly applied.
String output = ZonedDateTime.now( ZoneOffset.UTC ).withNano( 0 ).toString(); // Example: 2015-08-27T19:28:58Z
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. Hibernate 5 & JPA 2.2 support java.time.
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….
Joda-Time
UPDATE: The Joda -Time project is now in maintenance mode, with the team advising migration to the java.time classes.
I was looking for a one-liner
Easy if using the Joda-Time 2.3 library. ISO 8601 is the default formatting.
Time Zone
In the code example below, note that I am specifying a time zone rather than depending on the default time zone. In this case, I'm specifying UTC per your question. The Z on the end, spoken as "Zulu", means no time zone offset from UTC.
Example Code
// import org.joda.time.*;
String output = new DateTime( DateTimeZone.UTC );
Output…
2013-12-12T18:29:50.588Z