How can I get the current date and time in UTC or GMT in Java?

Answer 1

Here is what seems to be incorrect in Jon Skeet's answer. He said:

java.util.Date is always in UTC. What makes you think it's in local time? I suspect the problem is that you're displaying it via an instance of Calendar which uses the local timezone, or possibly using Date.toString() which also uses the local timezone.

However, the code:

System.out.println(new java.util.Date().getHours() + " hours");

gives the local hours, not GMT (UTC hours), using no Calendar and no SimpleDateFormat at all.

That is why is seems something is incorrect.

Putting together the responses, the code:

System.out.println(Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT"))
                           .get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY) + " Hours");

shows the GMT hours instead of the local hours -- note that getTime.getHours() is missing because that would create a Date() object, which theoretically stores the date in GMT, but gives back the hours in the local time zone.