How to set a Java Date object's value to yesterday?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Get yesterday's date using Date

What is an elegant way set to a Java Date object's value to yesterday?

[The modern/current answer is here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/33893147/5772882). — Ole V.V., Mar 28 '19 at 10:10

score 19 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 15 '12 at 08:15

19

  LocalDate today = LocalDate.now();
    LocalDate yesterday = today.minus(Period.days(1));

    System.out.printf("Today is : %s, Yesterday : %s", today.toString("yyyy-MM-dd"), yesterday.toString("yyyy-MM-dd"));

answered Aug 15 '12 at 08:15

Eugene

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+1 for using JodaTime instead of Date. – mikera Aug 15 '12 at 08:22
11

Java 8 LocalDate is very similar: `LocalDate.now().minusDays( 1 )` – Vitalii Diravka Oct 28 '19 at 14:23

score 18 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '12 at 08:15

Do you mean to go back 24 hours in time.

 Date date = new Date(System.currentTimeMillis() - 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000L);

or to go back one day at the time same time (this can be 23 or 25 hours depending on daylight savings)

 Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
 cal.add(Calendar.DATE, -1);

These are not exactly the same due to daylight saving.

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Convert the Date to a Calendar object and "roll" it back a single day. Something like this helper method take from here:

public static void addDays(Date d, int days)
{
    Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
    c.setTime(d);
    c.add(Calendar.DATE, days);
    d.setTime(c.getTime().getTime());
}

For your specific case, just pass in days as -1 and you should be done. Just make sure you take into consideration the timezone/locale if doing extensive date specific manipulations.

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 04 '13 at 00:57

0

You can try the following example to set it to previous date.

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
System.out.println("Today's date is " +dateFormat.format(cal.getTime()));    
cal.add(Calendar.DATE, -1);  
System.out.println("Yesterday's date was "+dateFormat.format(cal.getTime()));

edited Oct 04 '13 at 00:57

Michael Petrotta

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answered Aug 15 '12 at 08:15

UVM

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That seems very complicated. Can you simplify the example? – Peter Lawrey Aug 15 '12 at 08:17
2

@PeterLawrey, I have just made more simpler. – UVM Aug 15 '12 at 08:22

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 15 '12 at 08:21

0

you can try the follwing code:
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
System.out.println("Today's date is "+dateFormat.format(cal.getTime()));

cal.add(Calendar.DATE, -1);
System.out.println("Yesterday's date was "+dateFormat.format(cal.getTime()));

answered Aug 15 '12 at 08:21

bouazizi

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That looks similar to @UVM's answer. Can you try adding something his answer doesn't? – Peter Lawrey Aug 15 '12 at 08:24
@PeterLawrey I tested and it's worked fine – bouazizi Aug 15 '12 at 08:45
I know its fine, its just that its much the same as an earlier posting. – Peter Lawrey Aug 15 '12 at 08:47

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 15 '12 at 08:37

As many people have already said use Calendar rather than date.

If you find you really want to use dates:

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.HOUR, -24);
cal.getTime();//returns a Date object

Calendar cal1 = Calendar.getInstance();
cal1.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, -1);
cal1.getTime();//returns a Date object

I hope this helps. tomred

How to set a Java Date object's value to yesterday?

6 Answers6