tl;dr
LocalDateTime.parse(
"2016-01-23 12:34".replace( " " , "T" )
)
.atZone( ZoneId.of( "Asia/Karachi" ) )
.plusMinutes( 10 )
java.time
Use the excellent java.time classes for date-time work. These classes supplant the troublesome old date-time classes such as java.util.Date
and java.util.Calendar
.
ISO 8601
The java.time classes use standard ISO 8601 formats by default for parsing/generating strings of date-time values. To make your input string comply, replace the SPACE in the middle with a T
.
String input = "2016-01-23 12:34" ;
String inputModified = input.replace( " " , "T" );
LocalDateTime
Parse your input string as a LocalDateTime
as it lacks any info about time zone or offset-from-UTC.
LocalDateTime ldt = LocalDateTime.parse( inputModified );
Add ten minutes.
LocalDateTime ldtLater = ldt.plusMinutes( 10 );
ldt.toString(): 2016-01-23T12:34
ldtLater.toString(): 2016-01-23T12:44
See live code in IdeOne.com.
That LocalDateTime
has no time zone, so it does not represent a point on the timeline. Apply a time zone to translate to an actual moment. Specify a proper time zone name in the format of continent/region
, such as America/Montreal
, Africa/Casablanca
, or Pacific/Auckland
, or Asia/Karachi
. Never use the 3-4 letter abbreviation such as EST
or IST
or PKT
as they are not true time zones, not standardized, and not even unique(!).
ZonedDateTime
If you know the intended time zone for this value, apply a ZoneId
to get a ZonedDateTime
.
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "Asia/Karachi" );
ZonedDateTime zdt = ldt.atZone( z );
zdt.toString(): 2016-01-23T12:44+05:00[Asia/Karachi]
Anomalies
Think about whether to add those ten minutes before or after adding a time zone. You may get a very different result because of anomalies such as Daylight Saving Time (DST) that shift the wall-clock time.
Whether you should add the 10 minutes before or after adding the zone depends on the meaning of your business scenario and rules.
Tip: When you intend a specific moment on the timeline, always keep the time zone information. Do not lose that info, as done with your input data. Is the value 12:34
meant to be noon in Pakistan or noon in France or noon in Québec? If you meant noon in Pakistan, say so by including at least the offset-from-UTC (+05:00
), and better still, the name of the time zone (Asia/Karachi
).
Instant
If you want the same moment as seen through the lens of UTC, extract an Instant
. The Instant
class represents a moment on the timeline in UTC with a resolution of nanoseconds (up to nine (9) digits of a decimal fraction).
Instant instant = zdt.toInstant();
Convert
Avoid the troublesome old date-time classes whenever possible. But if you must, you can convert. Call new methods added to the old classes.
java.util.Date utilDate = java.util.Date.from( instant );
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 java.time.
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 and 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 SE 7
- Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
- Android
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.