If I have a specific date of a day, how do I get the date of that day in the previous week?

Question

SEE ANSWER FROM @Basil Bourque for most up to date answer

For example, if I have a "Date" variable "date1" with a value of (dd/mm/yyy) 03/07/2011, which is a Sunday. How do I get the "Date" of the previous Sunday "date2"? which would have the value (dd/mm/yyyy) 26/06/2011.

Is there an easy way of doing it, for example:

pseudo code:

Date date1 = (03/07/2011);
Date date2 = date1.subtractNumberOfDays(7);

FYI, the troublesome old date-time classes such as [`java.util.Date`](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/api/java/util/Date.html), [`java.util.Calendar`](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/api/java/util/Calendar.html), and `java.text.SimpleDateFormat` are now [legacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_system), supplanted by the [*java.time*](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/api/java/time/package-summary.html) classes built into Java 8 and later. See [*Tutorial* by Oracle](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/datetime/TOC.html). — Basil Bourque, Apr 22 '18 at 04:53

score 34 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 19 '18 at 23:37

34

You should use Calendar:

    Calendar date = new GregorianCalendar(2011, Calendar.JULY, 3);
    date.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, -7);
    System.out.println(date.getTime());

You can create a calendar from date too:

    Date date1 = new Date(111, Calendar.JULY, 3);//the year field adds 1900 on to it.
    Calendar date = new GregorianCalendar();
    date.setTime(date1);
    date.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, -7);
    date2 = date.getTime();

Be aware that:

Java uses 0 to represent January !
Date(year, month, day) is deprecated since JDK version 1.1 !

See the GregorianCalendar JavaDoc:

Constructs a GregorianCalendar with the given date set in the default time zone with the default locale. Parameters: year the value used to set the YEAR calendar field in the calendar. month the value used to set the MONTH calendar field in the calendar. Month value is 0-based. e.g., 0 for January. dayOfMonth the value used to set the DAY_OF_MONTH calendar field in the calendar.

edited Mar 19 '18 at 23:37

Ted Delezene

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answered Jul 01 '11 at 09:18

Petar Ivanov

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I would like to, but I am an intern working on a huge inhouse program that already uses Date (and Calendar :S but in this particular scenario it uses Date). – Ian Jul 01 '11 at 09:22
Just add: "Date dateAsDate = date.getTime();" to the end of the above code. dateAsDate is the Date object. – grahamrb Jul 01 '11 at 09:25
Ah thank you! This will be a big help! I will accept your answer as soon as the timer on the block runs out :) – Ian Jul 01 '11 at 09:25
You can also use more obvious cal.add(Calendar.WEEK_OF_YEAR, -1); – Andrei Petrenko Jul 06 '11 at 07:31
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The second method of creating a date `new Date(2011,3,7)` is deprecated. – Kevin Bowersox Mar 02 '13 at 15:53
Not only is it deprecated, you used it wrong. Unless you were wanting a date in the year 3911. The year goes from 1900, so 2011 would be 111. – Cdaragorn Aug 21 '14 at 21:48
I've edited the answer with some fixes, thanks for all comments noting issues out. – tbraun Jul 21 '15 at 12:19
FYI, the troublesome old date-time classes such as [`java.util.Date`](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/api/java/util/Date.html), [`java.util.Calendar`](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/api/java/util/Calendar.html), and `java.text.SimpleDateFormat` are now [legacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_system), supplanted by the [*java.time*](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/api/java/time/package-summary.html) classes built into Java 8 and later. See [*Tutorial* by Oracle](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/datetime/TOC.html). – Basil Bourque Apr 22 '18 at 04:53

Basil Bourque · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-01T23:16:40.353

tl;dr

LocalDate.of( 2011 , Month.JULY , 3 )
         .minusWeeks( 1 )

2011-06-26

java.time

The Question and Answers use old outmoded date-time classes. Instead use the java.time classes.

`LocalDate`

The LocalDate class represents a date-only value without time-of-day and without time zone.

LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.of( 2011 , Month.JULY , 3 );

Alternatively, pass an integer in second argument instead of the Month enum. Pass 1-12 for January-December.

Previous week

You can subtract a week from the date.

LocalDate weekPrior = localDate.minusWeeks( 1 );

See this code run live at IdeOne.com.

Previous day-of-week

If you want a specific day of the week, use a TemporalAdjuster.

Several such handy implementations provided in the TemporalAdjusters class (note the plural 's').

LocalDate priorTuesday = localDate.with( TemporalAdjusters.previous( DayOfWeek.TUESDAY ) ) ;

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.

The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.

To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.

Where to obtain the java.time classes?

Java SE 8, Java SE 9, and later
- Built-in.
- 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
- Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
- The ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above) for Android specifically.
- See How to use ThreeTenABP….

The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 01 '11 at 09:24

4

A more clear approach:

Calendar date = new GregorianCalendar(2011, 1, 1);
date.add(Calendar.WEEK_OF_MONTH, -1);
System.out.println(date.getTime());

use either WEEK_OF_MONTH or WEEK_OF_YEAR

answered Jul 01 '11 at 09:24

Thresh

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score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 01 '11 at 09:27

If you are willing to use Joda time it will be very easy.

An example:

DateTime toDay=new DateTime();
DateTime dateOfPreviousWeek=toDay.minusDays(7);

Another:

DateTime toDay = new DateTime(2011, 7, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);
DateTime dateOfPreviousWeek = toDay.minusDays(7);

You can get java.util.Date from DateTime as:

Date javaDate=jodaDateTime.toDate();