How to transform currentTimeMillis to a readable date format?

Question

I want to use currentTimeMillis twice so I can calculate a duration but I also want to display Time and Date in user readable format. I'm having trouble as currentTimeMillis is good for the calculation but I can't see a built in function to convert to nice time or time/date.

I use

android.text.format.DateFormat df = new android.text.format.DateFormat();
df.format("yyyy-MM-dd kk:mm:ss", new java.util.Date());

for producing nice time and date and what I'd ultimately like to do is show my resulting currentTimeMillis value into the android.text.format.DateFormat df = new android.text.format.DateFormat();

e.g.

android.text.format.DateFormat df = currentTimeMillis();

when I try I get

Type mismatch: cannot convert from long to DateFormat

I've tried to use some casting but can't see how to accomplish this.

score 187 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 12 '15 at 14:52

187

It will work.

long yourmilliseconds = System.currentTimeMillis();
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd,yyyy HH:mm");    
Date resultdate = new Date(yourmilliseconds);
System.out.println(sdf.format(resultdate));

edited Mar 12 '15 at 14:52

Bato-Bair Tsyrenov

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answered Apr 28 '12 at 14:32

asish

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thanks thought there would be something, but its likely to be easier to find a pin in a haystack! cheers. – Purplemonkey Apr 28 '12 at 14:45
Thanks, was dealing with a pesky problem and tried solving on my own, making the date readable made it so much simpler to solve my problem. – Meenohara Feb 10 '21 at 18:08

amalBit · Answer 2 · 2016-04-12T17:54:52.500

48

There is a simpler way in Android

 DateFormat.getInstance().format(currentTimeMillis);

Moreover, Date is deprecated, so use DateFormat class.

   DateFormat.getDateInstance().format(new Date(0));  
   DateFormat.getDateTimeInstance().format(new Date(0));  
   DateFormat.getTimeInstance().format(new Date(0));

The above three lines will give:

Dec 31, 1969  
Dec 31, 1969 4:00:00 PM  
4:00:00 PM  12:00:00 AM

edited Apr 12 '16 at 17:54

answered Nov 18 '13 at 09:19

amalBit

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Aren't you using a deprecated constructor when you call `new Date(0)`? – SafaOrhan Mar 16 '16 at 12:55
Just checked.. I dont think java.util.Date is depricated.. – amalBit Mar 16 '16 at 14:04
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You are right, `Date(String)` is deprecated, not `Date(long)`. – SafaOrhan Mar 16 '16 at 14:20
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ok, and how to convert this result to readable format, like 22.08.2016...? – Vasil Valchev Aug 22 '16 at 13:09
For that we have the SimpleDateFormat right. asish's answer. – amalBit Aug 23 '16 at 05:39

How to transform currentTimeMillis to a readable date format?

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