How to compare two string dates in Java?

Question

I have two dates in String format like below -

String startDate = \"2014/09/12 00:00\";

String endDate = \"2014/09/13 00:00\";

I want to

Answer 1

public class DateComparision
{

    public static void main(String args[]) throws AssertionError, ParseException
    {

        DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy");

        //comparing date using compareTo method in Java
        System.out.println("Comparing two Date in Java using CompareTo method");

        compareDatesByCompareTo(df, df.parse("01-01-2012"), df.parse("01-01-2012"));
        compareDatesByCompareTo(df, df.parse("02-03-2012"), df.parse("04-05-2012"));
        compareDatesByCompareTo(df, df.parse("02-03-2012"), df.parse("01-02-2012"));

        //comparing dates in java using Date.before, Date.after and Date.equals
        System.out.println("Comparing two Date in Java using Date's before, after and equals method");

        compareDatesByDateMethods(df, df.parse("01-01-2012"), df.parse("01-01-2012"));
        compareDatesByDateMethods(df, df.parse("02-03-2012"), df.parse("04-05-2012"));
        compareDatesByDateMethods(df, df.parse("02-03-2012"), df.parse("01-02-2012"));

        //comparing dates in java using Calendar.before(), Calendar.after and Calendar.equals()

        System.out.println("Comparing two Date in Java using Calendar's before, after and equals method");
        compareDatesByCalendarMethods(df, df.parse("01-01-2012"), df.parse("01-01-2012"));
        compareDatesByCalendarMethods(df, df.parse("02-03-2012"), df.parse("04-05-2012"));
        compareDatesByCalendarMethods(df, df.parse("02-03-2012"), df.parse("01-02-2012"));

    }

    public static void compareDatesByCompareTo(DateFormat df, Date oldDate, Date newDate)
    {
        //how to check if date1 is equal to date2
        if (oldDate.compareTo(newDate) == 0)
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " and " + df.format(newDate) + " are equal to each other");
        }

        //checking if date1 is less than date 2
        if (oldDate.compareTo(newDate) < 0)
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " is less than " + df.format(newDate));
        }

        //how to check if date1 is greater than date2 in java
        if (oldDate.compareTo(newDate) > 0)
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " is greater than " + df.format(newDate));
        }
    }

    public static void compareDatesByDateMethods(DateFormat df, Date oldDate, Date newDate)
    {
        //how to check if two dates are equals in java
        if (oldDate.equals(newDate))
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " and " + df.format(newDate) + " are equal to each other");
        }

        //checking if date1 comes before date2
        if (oldDate.before(newDate))
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " comes before " + df.format(newDate));
        }

        //checking if date1 comes after date2
        if (oldDate.after(newDate))
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " comes after " + df.format(newDate));
        }
    }

    public static void compareDatesByCalendarMethods(DateFormat df, Date oldDate, Date newDate)
    {

        //creating calendar instances for date comparision
        Calendar oldCal = Calendar.getInstance();
        Calendar newCal = Calendar.getInstance();

        oldCal.setTime(oldDate);
        newCal.setTime(newDate);

        //how to check if two dates are equals in java using Calendar
        if (oldCal.equals(newCal))
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " and " + df.format(newDate) + " are equal to each other");
        }

        //how to check if one date comes before another using Calendar
        if (oldCal.before(newCal))
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " comes before " + df.format(newDate));
        }

        //how to check if one date comes after another using Calendar
        if (oldCal.after(newCal))
        {
            System.out.println(df.format(oldDate) + " comes after " + df.format(newDate));
        }
    }
}

OUTPUT

Comparing two Date in Java using CompareTo method
01-01-2012 and 01-01-2012 are equal to each other
02-03-2012 is less than 04-05-2012
02-03-2012 is greater than 01-02-2012

Comparing two Date in Java using Date's before, after and equals method
01-01-2012 and 01-01-2012 are equal to each other
02-03-2012 comes before 04-05-2012
02-03-2012 comes after 01-02-2012

Comparing two Date in Java using Calendar's before, after and equals method
01-01-2012 and 01-01-2012 are equal to each other
02-03-2012 comes before 04-05-2012
02-03-2012 comes after 01-02-2012

Answer 2

I think it could be done much simpler,

Using Joda Time

You can try parsing this dates simply:

import org.joda.time.DateTime;
import org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormat;
import org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;

DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm");
DateTime d1 = formatter.parseDateTime(startDate);
DateTime d2 = formatter.parseDateTime(endDate);

Assert.assertTrue(d1.isBefore(d2));
Assert.assertTrue(d2.isAfter(d1));