comparing two dates/times in java

[scoobie]

Hi,

i am trying to compare two dates and times and wish to return the difference in minutes as an integer. both date/times are stored in a timestamp e.g. 2005-01-01 22:10:35.

does anybody know how to do this in java or have any sample code i could try.

thanks in advance,

scoobie

[sjalle]

/**
 * Date difference, as minutes (abs)
 */
import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;
import javax.swing.text.*;

public class DateDiff {

  static SimpleDateFormat df=new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss");
  
  private String sD1;
  private String sD2;

  public DateDiff(String sD1, String sD2) {
    this.sD1=sD1;
    this.sD2=sD2;
  }
  /**
   * Parse date strings in format like: 2005-01-01 22:10:35
   */
  public long getDifferenceInMinutes () throws ParseException {
    Date d1=df.parse(sD1);
    Date d2=df.parse(sD2);
    long d1Ms=d1.getTime();
    long d2Ms=d2.getTime();
    return Math.abs((d1Ms-d2Ms)/60000);
  }
  /**
   ***************** MAIN *******************
   * @param args
   */
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    DateDiff dd = new DateDiff("2005-01-01 22:10:35",
                               "2005-01-01 23:11:35");
    try {
      long diff=dd.getDifferenceInMinutes();
      System.out.println("Time difference (abs): " + diff);
    }
    catch (ParseException ex) {
      ex.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}

[scoobie]

thanks for all your help, that worked great