How to convert Milliseconds to “X mins, x seconds” in Java?

Question

I want to record the time using System.currentTimeMillis() when a user begins something in my program. When he finishes, I will subtract the current Syste

Answer 1

Either hand divisions, or use the SimpleDateFormat API.

long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
// do your work...
long elapsed = System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("HH 'hours', mm 'mins,' ss 'seconds'");
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT+0"));
System.out.println(df.format(new Date(elapsed)));

Edit by Bombe: It has been shown in the comments that this approach only works for smaller durations (i.e. less than a day).

Answer 2

for correct strings ("1hour, 3sec", "3 min" but not "0 hour, 0 min, 3 sec") i write this code:

int seconds = (int)(millis / 1000) % 60 ;
int minutes = (int)((millis / (1000*60)) % 60);
int hours = (int)((millis / (1000*60*60)) % 24);
int days = (int)((millis / (1000*60*60*24)) % 365);
int years = (int)(millis / 1000*60*60*24*365);

ArrayList<String> timeArray = new ArrayList<String>();

if(years > 0)   
    timeArray.add(String.valueOf(years)   + "y");

if(days > 0)    
    timeArray.add(String.valueOf(days) + "d");

if(hours>0)   
    timeArray.add(String.valueOf(hours) + "h");

if(minutes>0) 
    timeArray.add(String.valueOf(minutes) + "min");

if(seconds>0) 
    timeArray.add(String.valueOf(seconds) + "sec");

String time = "";
for (int i = 0; i < timeArray.size(); i++) 
{
    time = time + timeArray.get(i);
    if (i != timeArray.size() - 1)
        time = time + ", ";
}

if (time == "")
  time = "0 sec";

Answer 3

I have covered this in another answer but you can do:

public static Map<TimeUnit,Long> computeDiff(Date date1, Date date2) {
    long diffInMillies = date2.getTime() - date1.getTime();
    List<TimeUnit> units = new ArrayList<TimeUnit>(EnumSet.allOf(TimeUnit.class));
    Collections.reverse(units);
    Map<TimeUnit,Long> result = new LinkedHashMap<TimeUnit,Long>();
    long milliesRest = diffInMillies;
    for ( TimeUnit unit : units ) {
        long diff = unit.convert(milliesRest,TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
        long diffInMilliesForUnit = unit.toMillis(diff);
        milliesRest = milliesRest - diffInMilliesForUnit;
        result.put(unit,diff);
    }
    return result;
}

The output is something like Map:{DAYS=1, HOURS=3, MINUTES=46, SECONDS=40, MILLISECONDS=0, MICROSECONDS=0, NANOSECONDS=0}, with the units ordered.

It's up to you to figure out how to internationalize this data according to the target locale.

Answer 4

I think the best way is:

String.format("%d min, %d sec", 
    TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toSeconds(length)/60,
    TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toSeconds(length) % 60 );

Answer 5

Revisiting @brent-nash contribution, we could use modulus function instead of subtractions and use String.format method for the result string:

  /**
   * Convert a millisecond duration to a string format
   * 
   * @param millis A duration to convert to a string form
   * @return A string of the form "X Days Y Hours Z Minutes A Seconds B Milliseconds".
   */
   public static String getDurationBreakdown(long millis) {
       if (millis < 0) {
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Duration must be greater than zero!");
       }

       long days = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toDays(millis);
       long hours = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toHours(millis) % 24;
       long minutes = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toMinutes(millis) % 60;
       long seconds = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toSeconds(millis) % 60;
       long milliseconds = millis % 1000;

       return String.format("%d Days %d Hours %d Minutes %d Seconds %d Milliseconds",
                            days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds);
   }

Answer 6

DurationFormatUtils.formatDurationHMS(long)