Date and Time Formatting in Android

Date and Time in Android are formatted using the SimpleDateFormat library from Java, using Calendar instance which helps to get the current system date and time. The current date and time are of the type Long which can be converted to a human-readable date and time. In this article, it’s been discussed how the Date and Time values can be formatted in various formats and displayed. Have a look at the following image to get an idea of the entire discussion.

Steps to Format the Date and Time in Android

Step 1: Create an empty activity project

• Using Android Studio create an empty activity project. Refer to Android | How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio?

Step 2: Working with the activity_main.xml file

• The main layout of the activity file containing 8 TextViews. One to show the current system date and time value in Long type, and others to display the same date and time value in a formatted human-readable way.
• To implement the UI invoke the following code inside the activity_main.xml file.

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity"
    tools:ignore="HardcodedText">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="32dp"
        android:text="Date and Time value in Long type :"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <!--text view to show the current
        date and time in Long type-->
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/dateTimeLongValue"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="64dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="64dp"
        android:text="Date and Time formatted :"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/dateTimeLongValue" />

    <!--text views to show the current date and
        time in formatted and human readable way-->
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/format1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/textView" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/format2"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/format1" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/format3"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/format2" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/format4"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/format3" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/format5"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/format4" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/format6"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/format5" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/format7"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/format6" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Step 3: Working with the MainActivity file

Understanding the way of formatting the date and time in Android using SimpleDateFormat

• Firstly, the instance of the Calendar is created and the desired format of the date and time to be shown is passed to the SimpleDateFormat method. The String should include the following characters and one may include the separators like -, / etc.
• The below table includes the characters to be used to generate the most used common pattern of date and time.

Character to be used	Output
dd	Date in numeric value
E	Day in String (short form. Ex: Mon)
EEEE	Day in String (full form. Ex: Monday)
MM	Month in numeric value
yyyy	Year in numeric value
LLL	Month in String (short form. Ex: Mar)
LLLL	Month in String (full form. Ex: March)
HH	Hour in numeric value (24hrs timing format)
KK	Hour in numeric value (12hrs timing format)
mm	Minute in numeric value
ss	Seconds in numeric value
aaa	Displays AM or PM (according to 12hrs timing format)
z	Displays the time zone of the region

• Refer to the following code and its output to get a better idea of the above table.

Kotlin

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import android.widget.TextView
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat
import java.util.*

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        var dateTime: String
        var calendar: Calendar
        var simpleDateFormat: SimpleDateFormat

        // register all the text view with appropriate IDs
        val dateTimeInLongTextView: TextView = findViewById(R.id.dateTimeLongValue)
        val format1: TextView = findViewById(R.id.format1)
        val format2: TextView = findViewById(R.id.format2)
        val format3: TextView = findViewById(R.id.format3)
        val format4: TextView = findViewById(R.id.format4)
        val format5: TextView = findViewById(R.id.format5)
        val format6: TextView = findViewById(R.id.format6)
        val format7: TextView = findViewById(R.id.format7)

        // get the Long type value of the current system date
        val dateValueInLong: Long = System.currentTimeMillis()
        dateTimeInLongTextView.text = dateValueInLong.toString()

        // different format type to format the
        // current date and time of the system
        // format type 1
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance()
        simpleDateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z")
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.time).toString()
        format1.text = dateTime

        // format type 2
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance()
        simpleDateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z")
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.time).toString()
        format2.text = dateTime

        // format type 3
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance()
        simpleDateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z")
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.time).toString()
        format3.text = dateTime

        // format type 4
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance()
        simpleDateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("dd.LLL.yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z")
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.time).toString()
        format4.text = dateTime

        // format type 5
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance()
        simpleDateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("dd.LLLL.yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z")
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.time).toString()
        format5.text = dateTime

        // format type 6
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance()
        simpleDateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("E.LLLL.yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z")
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.time).toString()
        format6.text = dateTime

        // format type 7
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance()
        simpleDateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("EEEE.LLLL.yyyy KK:mm:ss aaa z")
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.time).toString()
        format7.text = dateTime
    }
}

Java

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Calendar;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    TextView dateTimeInLongTextView, format1, format2,
             format3, format4, format5, format6, format7;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        String dateTime;
        Calendar calendar;
        SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat;

        // register all the text view with appropriate IDs
        dateTimeInLongTextView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.dateTimeLongValue);
        format1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.format1);
        format2 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.format2);
        format3 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.format3);
        format4 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.format4);
        format5 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.format5);
        format6 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.format6);
        format7 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.format7);

        // get the Long type value of the current system date
        Long dateValueInLong = System.currentTimeMillis();
        dateTimeInLongTextView.setText(dateValueInLong.toString());

        // different format type to format the
        // current date and time of the system
        // format type 1
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z");
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime()).toString();
        format1.setText(dateTime);

        // format type 2
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z");
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime()).toString();
        format2.setText(dateTime);

        // format type 3
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z");
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime()).toString();
        format3.setText(dateTime);

        // format type 4
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.LLL.yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z");
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime()).toString();
        format4.setText(dateTime);

        // format type 5
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.LLLL.yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z");
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime()).toString();
        format5.setText(dateTime);

        // format type 6
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("E.LLLL.yyyy HH:mm:ss aaa z");
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime()).toString();
        format6.setText(dateTime);

        // format type 7
        calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE.LLLL.yyyy KK:mm:ss aaa z");
        dateTime = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime()).toString();
        format7.setText(dateTime);
    }
}

Output: