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Java Program to Get the Current Date and Time

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Since Java 8, the java.time package is the standard way to work with dates and times. Its classes are easy to read, cannot be changed after creation (immutable), and handle time zones correctly.

The outputs on this page show the date and time when the programs were run, so yours will be different.

1. Current Date and Time Using java.time

Each class has a static now() method:

  • LocalDate: date only (year, month, day).
  • LocalTime: time only (hours, minutes, seconds, nanoseconds).
  • LocalDateTime: date and time, without a time zone.
  • ZonedDateTime: date and time in a specific time zone.
  • Instant: a moment on the UTC timeline, useful for timestamps.
CurrentDateTime.java 
import java.time.Instant;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.LocalTime;
import java.time.ZoneId;
import java.time.ZonedDateTime;

public class CurrentDateTime {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("LocalDate:     " + LocalDate.now());
        System.out.println("LocalTime:     " + LocalTime.now());
        System.out.println("LocalDateTime: " + LocalDateTime.now());
        System.out.println("ZonedDateTime: " + ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneId.of("Asia/Kolkata")));
        System.out.println("Instant (UTC): " + Instant.now());
    }
}
Sample output
LocalDate:     2026-10-17
LocalTime:     19:13:59.515003
LocalDateTime: 2026-10-17T19:13:59.515069
ZonedDateTime: 2026-10-17T19:13:59.515306+05:30[Asia/Kolkata]
Instant (UTC): 2026-10-17T13:43:59.515382Z

2. Format the Date and Time with DateTimeFormatter

The default output above is in ISO format. DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern() lets you choose your own layout. Common pattern letters are dd (day), MM (month number), MMMM (month name), yyyy (year), HH (hour 0–23), hh (hour 1–12), mm (minutes), ss (seconds), a (AM/PM) and EEEE (day name).

FormatDateTime.java 
import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
import java.util.Locale;

public class FormatDateTime {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        LocalDateTime now = LocalDateTime.now();

        DateTimeFormatter f1 = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
        DateTimeFormatter f2 = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("EEEE, d MMMM yyyy", Locale.ENGLISH);
        DateTimeFormatter f3 = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("hh:mm a", Locale.ENGLISH);

        System.out.println(now.format(f1));
        System.out.println(now.format(f2));
        System.out.println(now.format(f3));
    }
}
Sample output
17/10/2026 19:13:59
Saturday, 17 October 2026
07:13 PM

3. Get the Year, Month, Day and Time Separately

Getter methods return individual parts of the date and time.

DateTimeParts.java 
import java.time.LocalDateTime;

public class DateTimeParts {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        LocalDateTime now = LocalDateTime.now();

        System.out.println("Year:   " + now.getYear());
        System.out.println("Month:  " + now.getMonth() + " (" + now.getMonthValue() + ")");
        System.out.println("Day:    " + now.getDayOfMonth() + ", " + now.getDayOfWeek());
        System.out.println("Hour:   " + now.getHour());
        System.out.println("Minute: " + now.getMinute());
    }
}
Sample output
Year:   2026
Month:  OCTOBER (10)
Day:    17, SATURDAY
Hour:   19
Minute: 14

4. Current Date Using the Older Date Class

Older code often uses java.util.Date with SimpleDateFormat. They still work, but the java.time classes above are recommended for new code.

LegacyDate.java 
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class LegacyDate {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Date now = new Date();
        SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss");

        System.out.println("Formatted: " + format.format(now));
        System.out.println("Milliseconds since 1970: " + now.getTime());
    }
}
Sample output
Formatted: 17-10-2026 19:14:00
Milliseconds since 1970: 1792244640304

5. Summary

  • LocalDate.now(), LocalTime.now() and LocalDateTime.now() return the current date and time.
  • Use ZonedDateTime for a specific time zone and Instant for UTC timestamps.
  • DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm") formats dates in any layout.
  • Prefer java.time over the older Date and SimpleDateFormat classes.

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