Apply timezone to Date object

Question

    Date now = new Date();
    Date then = new Date((long)obj.timestamp*1000);

    TimeZone tz = TimeZone.getDefault();

Not very familiar with java, but is there any way to apply a timezone to a Date object? I found this thread, but this is about Calendar timezones, which i believe is something different?

If you have the chance at all, use JODA Time instead of Java's extremely messy built-in calendar tools. — Louis Wasserman, Dec 03 '12 at 18:33

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 03 '12 at 18:36

Date object uses the current timezone by default. If you are trying to print the time in specific timezone, you may use SimpleDateFormat as below:

   //put the desired format      
   DateFormat formatter= new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss Z");
   //set the desired timezone
   formatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("Europe/London"));

   String formattedNowInTimeZone  = formatter.format(now);
   String formattedThenInTimeZone  = formatter.format(then);

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 09 '15 at 21:58

2

use SimpleDateFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone) to set TimeZone.

    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yourformat");   
    TimeZone tz = TimeZone.getDefault(); 
    sdf.setTimeZone(tz);
    sdf.format(yourdate); //will return a string rep of a date with the included format

edited Oct 09 '15 at 21:58

Sam Bellerose

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answered Dec 03 '12 at 18:35

PermGenError

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 03 '12 at 18:36

2

Date objects do not have a timezone, it is simply a container for a specific moment in time. If you want to apply a timezone to it, you'll have to use a Calendar. I do it as follows

Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.setTime( date );

If you're just looking to display the Date adjusted for a timezone, then you can use SimpleDateFormat to apply the proper timezone adjustments.

answered Dec 03 '12 at 18:36

Khantahr

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And how would i apply the actual timezone object to the calendar? – Johan Dec 03 '12 at 19:52
Do it with `cal.setTimeZone( TimeZone );`. Typically I'd use `cal.setTimeZone( TimeZone.getTimeZone( "Timezone String Id" );`. – Khantahr Dec 03 '12 at 20:02

Apply timezone to Date object

3 Answers3