Period to string

Question

I'm using the Joda-Time library with Java. I'm having some difficulty trying to turn a Period object to a string in the format of "x days, x hours, x minutes".

These Period objects are first created by adding an amount of seconds to them (they are serialized to XML as seconds and then recreated from them). If I simply use the getHours() etc. methods in them, all I get is zero and the total amount of seconds with getSeconds.

How can I make Joda calculate the seconds into the respective fields, like days, hours, etc...?

Related: http://stackoverflow.com/q/10829870/11236 – ripper234 May 06 '13 at 08:51 — ripper234, May 06 '13 at 08:51

score 92 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

92

You need to normalize the period because if you construct it with the total number of seconds, then that's the only value it has. Normalizing it will break it down into the total number of days, minutes, seconds, etc.

Edit by ripper234 - Adding a TL;DR version: PeriodFormat.getDefault().print(period)

For example:

public static void main(String[] args) {
  PeriodFormatter daysHoursMinutes = new PeriodFormatterBuilder()
    .appendDays()
    .appendSuffix(" day", " days")
    .appendSeparator(" and ")
    .appendMinutes()
    .appendSuffix(" minute", " minutes")
    .appendSeparator(" and ")
    .appendSeconds()
    .appendSuffix(" second", " seconds")
    .toFormatter();

  Period period = new Period(72, 24, 12, 0);

  System.out.println(daysHoursMinutes.print(period));
  System.out.println(daysHoursMinutes.print(period.normalizedStandard()));
}

Will print:

24 minutes and 12 seconds

3 days and 24 minutes and 12 seconds

So you can see the output for the non-normalized period simply ignores the number of hours (it didn't convert the 72 hours to 3 days).

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

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answered Sep 17 '09 at 19:11

SteveD

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o.O ... I guess I should have been more verbose. – Jherico Sep 17 '09 at 22:18
2

-1 from me, because this is difficult to localise. – Hakanai Aug 02 '12 at 23:40
8

If you use gettext i do not see why this is diffucult to localize! +1 and ther is a method `withLocale(Locale locale)` which _Returns a new formatter with a different locale that will be used for printing and parsing._ – BigAl Aug 28 '12 at 08:48
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I added this answer into your own, your answer is good but it's way too verbose for a lot of needs. http://stackoverflow.com/a/4862467/11236 – ripper234 May 06 '13 at 08:48
@ripper234 It does explain exactly how to use a PeriodFormatter, though. However, I did use your tl;dr. Thanks! – Erick Robertson Jul 17 '14 at 12:49

simao · Answer 2 · 2016-10-25T14:04:32.673

23

You can also use the Default formatter, which is good for most cases:

Period period = new Period(startDate, endDate);
System.out.println(PeriodFormat.getDefault().print(period))

edited Oct 25 '16 at 14:04

answered Feb 01 '11 at 12:18

simao

14,491
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I wouldn't say "most cases", but it is useful, yes. – skaffman Feb 01 '11 at 12:21
Should be part of the accepted answer. – ripper234 May 06 '13 at 08:46
If your users really care about the number of factional seconds then yet it's very useful. – dan carter Sep 24 '13 at 03:16
1

@dancarter If you don't want seconds and milliseconds, you should create the Period with the correct PeriodType. – benvd Nov 29 '13 at 14:59

score 12 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 17 '09 at 18:40

    Period period = new Period();
    // prints 00:00:00
    System.out.println(String.format("%02d:%02d:%02d", period.getHours(), period.getMinutes(), period.getSeconds()));
    period = period.plusSeconds(60 * 60 * 12);
    // prints 00:00:43200
    System.out.println(String.format("%02d:%02d:%02d", period.getHours(), period.getMinutes(), period.getSeconds()));
    period = period.normalizedStandard();
    // prints 12:00:00
    System.out.println(String.format("%02d:%02d:%02d", period.getHours(), period.getMinutes(), period.getSeconds()));

Pity you cannot pass format string to Period or its Formatter to get this effect. — greenoldman, Dec 03 '11 at 15:48

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 13 '12 at 17:32

PeriodFormatter daysHoursMinutes = new PeriodFormatterBuilder()
    .appendDays()
    **.appendSuffix(" day", " days")
    .appendSeparator(" and ")
    .appendMinutes()
    .appendSuffix(" minute", " minutes")**
    .appendSeparator(" and ")
    .appendSeconds()
    .appendSuffix(" second", " seconds")
    .toFormatter();

you're missing the hours, that's why. Append hours after days and problem solved.

Period to string

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