Java get current time in milliseconds. Jul 23, 20...

Java get current time in milliseconds. Jul 23, 2025 · Java uses date and time class after the release of version java 8 to store the date and time. Learn how to get the current timestamp in Java formatted to include milliseconds using SimpleDateFormat. currentTimeMillis ()` method is a fundamental way to obtain the current time in milliseconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC). time package and with legacy methods. In this guide, we’ll explore how to get the current time in milliseconds using both the modern java. currentTimeMillis() but this returns the date as well as the time. This article describes how we may get the current date, current time and current time stamp in Java. If I do following: long t1 = System. Now the tricky details: when you call the now() method (for either LocalDateTime or LocalDate), it uses the JVM's default timezone to get the values for the current date, and this value might be different depending on the timezone configured in the JVM. Date Get Methods Note 1 The get methods above return Local time. The millis() method in Java, part of the java. e. Complete guide with code examples. currentTimeMillis () method. currentTimeMillis() - Unix Timestamps in Java & Javascript. time classes use a finer resolution of nanoseconds. 1) Using public long getTime() method of Date class. In that case, you need to call currentTimeMillis before and after the computation, take the difference, and divide the result by 1000 to convert milliseconds to seconds. The current time is obtained by getting the current time and then by using the methods getTime () and getTimeInMillis (), both of which return the calendar time and date time in milliseconds. time. toEpochMilli() returns current time Java provides several ways to get the current time in milliseconds, both with the new java. We will see different ways to get the current epoch timestamp in seconds and milliseconds of precision in Java and Java 8. m. but if you need time zone or any other details I think this won't be enough Also See this approach using android api support On a Unix system, is there a way to get a timestamp with microsecond level accuracy in Java? Something like C's gettimeofday function. An epoch is the difference, measured in milliseconds, between the current time and midnight, January 1, 1970 UTC (i. When getting a date, without specifying the time zone, the result is converted to the browser's time zone. util. currentTimeMillis() does returns UTC time. currentTimeMillis()`, which returns the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch (January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC), this blog focuses on a Dec 7, 2025 · This blog post demystifies how to get the current time in milliseconds (epoch milliseconds) across 10+ popular programming languages. currentTimeMillis () method in Java, its usage, syntax, and examples to understand how to retrieve the current time in milliseconds. Clock. Nov 12, 2025 · Java: Get Current Time in Milliseconds In Java, getting the current time in milliseconds is a common requirement for various applications such as profiling, logging, and scheduling. but it does not. now(). Since it stores milliseconds the accuracy of the exact time increases. Instances of this abstract class are used to access a pluggable representation of the current instant, which can be interpreted using the stored time-zone to find the current date and time. currentTimeMillis () - In this tutorial, we will learn about the System. In the world of Java programming, working with time is a common requirement. The ZonedDateTime class provides a date-time with a time zone. By understanding how to use this method, you can measure time intervals, log timestamps, and profile code execution in your Java applications. Includes epoch explanation and conversion syntax in various programming languages. See Tutorial by Oracle. 1, the class Date had two additional functions. Learn how to get the current GMT time in milliseconds using Java with clear examples and solutions to common mistakes. Date andCalendar 2. There are several ways to get the current epoch timestamp in milliseconds in Java. time` package). A quick guide to get the current date time in milliseconds using Date, Calendar and java 8 api classes. Example Learn how to get the current time in milliseconds using Java. EDIT : Time Zone I used to demo the code IST (+05:30) ,So if you check milliseconds that mentioned in log to match with time in log you might get a different value based your system timezone EDIT: This is easy approach . Measuring time in milliseconds provides a high-resolution way to track the execution time of code segments, timestamp events, or manage time-sensitive operations. How to get time in milliseconds in Java January 22, 2015 by mkyong In Java, you can use following methods to get time in milliseconds Date class – getTime () method Calendar class – getTimeInMillis () method Java offers multiple ways to achieve this, ranging from legacy classes (e. I want to get the current UTC time in millis. Now. I know that I could do it by having long The currentTimeMillis() method of the System class returns the current time in the format of milliseconds. Follow our expert step-by-step guidance in Java to improve your coding and debugging skills and efficiency. This guide explains the methods and includes code snippets for clarity. One of the most commonly used methods for obtaining the current time in milliseconds is `System. However, if your requirement is to get the milliseconds from the current time based on the clock rather than from the epoch, you can achieve this using alternatives. 12:30 PM) or 24 hour format HH:mm (e. The package view of the method is as follows: In this quick tutorial, we’ll illustrate multiple ways of converting time into Unix-epoch milliseconds in Java. The `Instant` class, a part of the `java. System. It also allowed the formatting and parsing of date strings. This method is frequently used to measure elapsed time and create timestamps. currentTimeMillis() is a versatile and useful method in Java for measuring time and implementing time-based logic. The `java. In Java 8, the traditional way to get the current time in milliseconds using `new Date (). System class is nanoTime (). lang package. " While many developers are familiar with `System. text. public static String getCurrentTimeStamp() { SimpleDateFormat sdfDate = new SimpleDateFormat("yy Conclusion System. But it does not tell anything about milliseconds. Prior to JDK 1. How can I get the year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds of the current moment in Java? I would like to have them as Strings. getTime ()` is replaced by new date-time classes. Answer System. Unfortunately, the API for these functions was not amenable to internationalization. We’ll break down each method with code examples, explanations, and key considerations like time zones and precision. 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z). This long-valued timestamp is incredibly useful for measuring time intervals, implementing time-based logic, and more. ToUniversalTime() seems to be something so difficult. In other words: If a date/time is created in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), the date/time will be converted to CDT (Central US Daylight Time) if a user browses from central US. I searched google and got some answers that System. Easy epoch/Unix timestamp converter for computer programmers. One such useful method is `java. Milliseconds & the Unix Epoch. Overview In this tutorial, We'll learn how to Home » Java » Solved: get current milliseconds Sure, I will write a detailed article about getting current milliseconds in Java. currentTimeMillis (), which returns the time since the epoch. currentTimeMillis ()` is a widely used method that returns the current time in milliseconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC). currentTimeMillis ()`. It allowed the interpretation of dates as year, month, day, hour, minute, and second values. , `SimpleDateFormat`) to modern, thread-safe APIs introduced in Java 8 (the `java. I have code that subtracts a current utc Another method in java. 1. 2) Using public long getTimeInMillis() method of Calendar class 3) Java 8 - ZonedDateTime. Then how to get current hour in milliseconds so that it will represent 4:00 a. Dec 2, 2025 · In Java, working with time and date is a common task, but it can be confusing—especially when distinguishing between "milliseconds since the epoch" and "milliseconds as a component of the current time. While this raw millisecond value can be useful in some cases, there are often scenarios where you need to convert it into a more human-readable format or perform calculations based on different time units. UTC time The time in many operating systems is measured in milliseconds, for instance. Now java usually stores Date in a typical fashion such that the number of milliseconds passed since 1 Jan 1970 in a long data type. This blog post will provide a comprehensive overview of `System 9 From your code it would appear that you are trying to measure how long a computation took (as opposed to trying to figure out what the current time is). Instantly convert Unix timestamps (Epoch time) to human-readable dates and vice versa. The code below gives me the current time. Convert milliseconds to date-time. As of JDK 1. 1 In this tutorial we will see how to get current time or given time in milliseconds in Java. Supports milliseconds and local timezone conversion. Trying to get Universal Time in java seems to be so difficult. In Java, time can be measured in several ways. The Question asked for milliseconds, but java. This blog post will guide This section provides a tutorial example on how to obtain the current time in milliseconds and nanoseconds using currentTimeMillis () and nanoTime () methods. Prior to Java 8, most people who know about these things recommended Joda-time as having (by far) the best Java APIs for doing things involving time point and duration calculations. This is probably a very simple matter, but I would like to get the current day in milliseconds; that is, the Unix Timestamp at midnight of the current day. nanoTime(); // long finish = System. This method offers a straightforward way to obtain the current time in milliseconds, which can be crucial for Discover in depth solution to java get current milliseconds in Java programming language. The range of an instant requires the storage of a number larger than a long. Calendar, and java. Date, java. In the world of Java programming, accurately measuring time is often crucial for a variety of applications, such as performance profiling, scheduling tasks, and implementing time-sensitive algorithms. Core Java’s java. An instantaneous point on the time-line. The getTimeInMillis () method of the calendar class retrieves and returns the time in milli seconds from the epochepoch time (Jan 1st 1970 00:00:00 GMT). Note th A quick guide to get the current date time in milliseconds using Date, Calendar and java 8 api classes. This method returns the current time in milliseconds since 00:00:00 UTC on January 1, 1970. This might be used to record event time-stamps in the application. Something like this in C# DateTime. To get the milliseconds from a LocalDateTime object in Java 8, you can use the toInstant method and the toEpochMilli method. ” Let’s use it: long start = System. If we look at the Java documentation, we’ll find the following statement: “This method can only be used to measure elapsed time and is not related to any other notion of system or wall-clock time. currentTimeMillis() method in Java provides a way to obtain the current time in milliseconds since the Unix epoch. SimpleDateFormat are now legacy, supplanted by the java. lang. currentTimeMillis () function, and learn how to use this function to get the current time in milliseconds, with the help of examples. Millisecond format in Java, you can use the SimpleDateFormat class and specify the desired format string: In this tutorial, we covered how to work with time in milliseconds in Java, including getting current time, converting it to Date, and manipulating time using Java 8's new APIs. time API and the legacy System class. Understanding Time and its measurement is crucial, particularly in the world of technology where precision matters. time classes built into Java 8 and later. nanoTime();. More specifically, we’ll use: 1. The Instant class provides a machine-readable representation of a point in time. g. A millisecond instant is measured from 1970-01-01T00:00Z (UTC) to the current time. currentTimeMillis method is straightforward and provides the current time in milliseconds since the Unix epoch. 13:30), however sometimes we also want to show the milliseconds in the time. How to get current hour as a count of milliseconds since epoch? Like if the time is 4:20 a. Usually we display time in in 12 hour format hh:mm:aa format (e. Link to a moment. time` package, offers a clearer and more robust solution. The known way is below: long In Java, obtaining the current time in milliseconds is commonly done through methods like System. time package is recommended. But, one of the most precise ways is by using Java System. The millis () method of Clock class returns the current instant of the clock in milliseconds. millis ()`. currentTimeMillis () is a method in Java that returns the current time in milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT (also known as the Unix epoch). I want to get the current time in milliseconds. The class Date represents a specific instant in time, with millisecond precision. In Java, the `System. In Java, `System. Clock class, is used to obtain the current time in milliseconds from the epoch of 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z (UTC) from a Clock instance. To get the current time in the YYYY-MM-DD HH:MI:Sec. This tutorial will explore both approaches, highlight best practices, and address common pitfalls to help you accurately format the current time with milliseconds. To achieve this, the class stores a long representing epoch-seconds and an int representing nanosecond-of-second, which will always be between 0 A clock providing access to the current instant, date and time using a time-zone. I am wondering if there is a way to get current milliseconds since 1-1-1970 (epoch) using the new LocalDate, LocalTime or LocalDateTime classes of Java 8. To obtain the current milliseconds from the current time in Java, you can use the System. The System. time` package introduced in Java 8 provides a rich set of classes and methods to handle date, time, and related operations more effectively. It provides a simple way to get the current time in milliseconds since the Unix epoch, which can be used for various purposes such as measuring execution time and implementing time-based logic. The LocalDateTime class provides a date-time without a time zone. FYI, the terribly troublesome old date-time classes such as java. That means the number of nanoseconds will range from from 0 to 999,999,999. With Java 8 and later, the standard java. How to get the current time in milliseconds in java using currentTimeMillis() method from java. Joda-Time library Learn about the System. This class models a single instantaneous point on the time-line. I simply want "15:03" in milliseconds, not the date too. toInstant(). There are three ways to get time in milliseconds in java. Java 8’s Date and Time API 3. I'm using System. In this article, I show you how to Java code to convert LocalDateTime to long (in Milliseconds) using Java 8 date-time API. Universal time (UTC) is documented at the bottom of this page. sszz, y5piif, ue30y, vagqj, ylctee, swbtl, 07ox, fflje, sxk4u, 7rly8,