Java 8 – Convert Date to LocalDate and LocalDateTime

Here is the code to convert java.util.Date to java.time.LocalDate.

  Date date = new Date();
  LocalDate localDate = date.toInstant().atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault()).toLocalDate();

  // different way of create instant object
  LocalDate localDate = Instant.ofEpochMilli(date.getTime()).atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault()).toLocalDate();

Convert java.util.Date to java.time.LocalDateTime.

  Date date = new Date();
  LocalDateTime localDateTime = date.toInstant().atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault()).toLocalDateTime();

Convert java.util.Date to java.time.ZonedDateTime.

  Date date = new Date();
  ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime = date.toInstant().atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault());

For java.sql.Date, we can convert it directly.

  java.sql.Date sqlDate = java.sql.Date.valueOf("2020-02-05");
  LocalDate localDate2 = sqlDate.toLocalDate();

1. Date -> java.time.LocalDate

The java.util.Date has no concept of time zone, and only represents the number of seconds passed since the Unix epoch time – 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z (midnight at the start of January 1, 1970 GMT/UTC)

Note
The new Java 8 java.time.Instant is the equivalent class to the classic java.util.Date

The idea of the date conversion is to convert to an instant with a time zone.

Date -> Instant + System default time zone = LocalDate
Date -> Instant + System default time zone = LocalDateTime
Date -> Instant + System default time zone = ZonedDateTime

DateToJavaTime.java

package com.favtuts.time;

import java.time.Instant;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.ZoneId;
import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
import java.util.Date;

public class DateToJavaTime {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        convertDateToLocalDate();
    }

    static void convertDateToLocalDate() {
        // Asia/Kuala_Lumpur +8
        ZoneId defaultZoneId = ZoneId.systemDefault();
        System.out.println("System Default TimeZone : " + defaultZoneId);

        // toString() append +8 automatically.
        Date date = new Date();
        System.out.println("date : " + date);

        // 1. Convert Date -> Instant
        Instant instant = date.toInstant();
        System.out.println("instant : " + instant); // Zone : UTC+0

        // 2. Instant + system default time zone + toLocalDate() = LocalDate
        LocalDate localDate = instant.atZone(defaultZoneId).toLocalDate();
        System.out.println("localDate : " + localDate);

        // 3. Instant + system default time zone + toLocalDateTime() = LocalDateTime
        LocalDateTime localDateTime = instant.atZone(defaultZoneId).toLocalDateTime();
        System.out.println("localDateTime : " + localDateTime);

        // 4. Instant + system default time zone = ZonedDateTime
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime = instant.atZone(defaultZoneId);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime : " + zonedDateTime);
    }
}

Output

System Default TimeZone : Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
date : Sat Jun 04 20:33:11 ICT 2022
instant : 2022-06-04T13:33:11.717Z
localDate : 2022-06-04
localDateTime : 2022-06-04T20:33:11.717
zonedDateTime : 2022-06-04T20:33:11.717+07:00[Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh]

2. java.time.LocalDate -> Date

This example shows you how to convert LocalDate, LocalDateTime and ZonedDateTime back to the classic java.util.Date.

JavaTimeToDate.java

package com.favtuts.time;

import java.time.Instant;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.ZoneId;
import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
import java.util.Date;

public class DateToJavaTime {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        convertJavaTimeToClassicDate();
    }

    static void convertJavaTimeToClassicDate() {
        // Asia/Kuala_Lumpur +8
        ZoneId defaultZoneId = ZoneId.systemDefault();
        System.out.println("System Default TimeZone : " + defaultZoneId);

        LocalDate localDate = LocalDate.of(2016, 8, 19);
        Date date = Date.from(localDate.atStartOfDay(defaultZoneId).toInstant());
        System.out.println("\n1. LocalDate -> Date");
        System.out.println("localDate : " + localDate);
        System.out.println("date : " + date);

        LocalDateTime localDateTime = LocalDateTime.of(2016, 8, 19, 21, 46, 31);
        Date date2 = Date.from(localDateTime.atZone(defaultZoneId).toInstant());
        System.out.println("\n2. LocalDateTime -> Date");
        System.out.println("localDateTime : " + localDateTime);
        System.out.println("date2 : " + date2);

        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime = localDateTime.atZone(defaultZoneId);
        Date date3 = Date.from(zonedDateTime.toInstant());
        System.out.println("\n3. ZonedDateTime -> Date");
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime : " + zonedDateTime);
        System.out.println("date3 : " + date3);
    }
}

Output

System Default TimeZone : Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh

1. LocalDate -> Date
localDate : 2016-08-19
date : Fri Aug 19 00:00:00 ICT 2016

2. LocalDateTime -> Date
localDateTime : 2016-08-19T21:46:31
date2 : Fri Aug 19 21:46:31 ICT 2016

3. ZonedDateTime -> Date
zonedDateTime : 2016-08-19T21:46:31+07:00[Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh]
date3 : Fri Aug 19 21:46:31 ICT 2016

FAQs

Question : If Date has no concept of time zone, why the time zone will be displayed if we print out the Date object? For example :

  //Fri Aug 19 11:52:06 MYT 2016
  System.out.println(new Date()); //MYT = my system default time zone

Answer : Check the java.uti.Date.toString() source code, if you print out the Date object, the system default time zone will be appended and display together.

java.util.Date

public String toString() {

        //...omitted...

        TimeZone zi = date.getZone();
        if (zi != null) {
            sb.append(zi.getDisplayName(date.isDaylightTime(), TimeZone.SHORT, Locale.US)); // zzz
        } else {
            sb.append("GMT");
        }
        sb.append(' ').append(date.getYear());  // yyyy
        return sb.toString();
}

Note

This behavior is a design flaw since JDK1.1; it makes a lot of confusion. Again, the java.util.Date doesn’t store any time zone info, but if you print it out, the system default time zone will be displayed together.

References

• JSR 310: Date and Time API
• Wikipedia Unix time
• Instant JavaDoc
• Date JavaDoc
• Java – Convert date and time between timezone