Time difference program

Question

I am using following function to calculate time difference. It is not showing proper output. After 1 month time difference it is showing 2 minutes difference.

What is wr

Answer 1

I recommend to take a look at Joda Time, noting that:

Joda-Time is the de facto standard date and time library for Java prior to Java SE 8. Users are now asked to migrate to java.time (JSR-310).

Installation

• For Debian-based systems: libjoda-time-java. The jar will be in /usr/share/java as joda-time.jar
• For others: Download latest jar, e.g. joda-time-2.2-dist.zip which includes joda-time-2.2.jar

When you use Eclipse, add it to your Java Build path (Project > Properties > Java Build Path > Add External Jar)

Relevant JavaDoc

• DateTime
• Period
• PeriodFormatter
• PeriodFormatterBuilder

Example code

import java.sql.Timestamp;
import java.util.Date;
import org.joda.time.DateTime;
import org.joda.time.Period;
import org.joda.time.format.PeriodFormatter;
import org.joda.time.format.PeriodFormatterBuilder;

public class MinimalWorkingExample {
    static Date date = new Date(1990, 4, 28, 12, 59);

    public static String getTimestampDiff(Timestamp t) {
        final DateTime start = new DateTime(date.getTime());
        final DateTime end = new DateTime(t);
        Period p = new Period(start, end);
        PeriodFormatter formatter = new PeriodFormatterBuilder()
                .printZeroAlways().minimumPrintedDigits(2).appendYears()
                .appendSuffix(" year", " years").appendSeparator(", ")
                .appendMonths().appendSuffix(" month", " months")
                .appendSeparator(", ").appendDays()
                .appendSuffix(" day", " days").appendSeparator(" and ")
                .appendHours().appendLiteral(":").appendMinutes()
                .appendLiteral(":").appendSeconds().toFormatter();
        return p.toString(formatter);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String diff = getTimestampDiff(new Timestamp(2013, 3, 20, 7, 51, 0, 0));
        System.out.println(diff);
    }
}

Output:

22 years, 10 months, 01 day and 18:52:00

Why I recommend a new solution

• It is shorter (726 characters / 14 lines in comparison to your 1665 characters / 41 lines)
• It is easier to understand
• It is easier to adjust
• Separation of code and presentation is clearer
• I don't want to fix your code