The compareTo() method of Java Date class compares two dates and sort them for order.
Syntax:
public int compareTo(Date anotherDate)
Parameters: The function accepts a single parameter anotherDate which specifies the date to be compared .
Return Value: The function gives three return values specified below:
- It returns the value 0 if the argument Date is equal to this Date.
- It returns a value less than 0 if this Date is before the Date argument.
- It returns a value greater than 0 if this Date is after the Date argument.
Exception: The function throws a single exception that is NullPointerException if anotherDate is null.
Program below demonstrates the above mentioned function:
// Java code to demonstrate // compareTo() function of Date class import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Calendar;
public class GfG {
// main method
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// creating a Calendar object
Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
// set Month
// MONTH starts with 0 i.e. ( 0 - Jan)
c.set(Calendar.MONTH, 11 );
// set Date
c.set(Calendar.DATE, 05 );
// set Year
c.set(Calendar.YEAR, 1996 );
// creating a date object with specified time.
Date dateOne = c.getTime();
System.out.println( "Date 1: "
+ dateOne);
// creating a date of object
// storing the current date
Date currentDate = new Date();
System.out.println( "Date 2: "
+ currentDate);
// compares
System.out.println( "On Comparison: "
+ currentDate
.compareTo(dateOne));
}
} |
Output:
Date 1: Thu Dec 05 08:17:55 UTC 1996 Date 2: Wed Jan 02 08:17:55 UTC 2019 On Comparison: 1
// Java code to demonstrate // compareTo() function of Date class import java.util.Date;
public class GfG {
// main method
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// creating a date of object
// stospecified datent date
Date currentDate = new Date();
System.out.println( "Date 1: " + currentDate);
// specifiedDate is assigned to null.
Date specifiedDate = null ;
System.out.println( "Date 2: " + specifiedDate);
System.out.println( "Passing null as parameter: " );
try {
// throws NullPointerException
System.out.println(currentDate
.compareTo(specifiedDate));
}
catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println( "Exception: " + e);
}
}
} |
Output:
Date 1: Wed Jan 02 08:18:02 UTC 2019 Date 2: null Passing null as parameter: Exception: java.lang.NullPointerException