How to convert date to milliseconds with out timezone offset?

Question

I what to convert selected date to milliseconds without timezone difference. Below is my code.

 String selectedDate=Jan 18, 2020;
 SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd, yyyy", Locale.US);
 Date date = format.parse(selectedDate);

while running I am getting date like Sat Jan 18 00:00:00 GMT+05:30 2020. But I want without timezone difference like Jan 18, 2020.

Answer 1

For a difference of 0 from UTC:

    DateTimeFormatter dateFormatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMM dd, uuuu", Locale.ENGLISH);
    String selectedDate = "Jan 18, 2020";
    ZonedDateTime zdt = LocalDate.parse(selectedDate, dateFormatter)
            .atStartOfDay(ZoneOffset.UTC);
    System.out.println(zdt);
    long millisSinceEpoch = zdt.toInstant().toEpochMilli();
    System.out.println(millisSinceEpoch);

Output from this snpipet is:

 2020-01-18T00:00Z 1579305600000

I am using java.time, the modern Java date and time API. The classes that you used, SimpleDateFormat and Date , are poorly designed and long outdated, and no one should use them anymore.

Question: Doesn't java.time require Android API level 26?

java.time works nicely on both older and newer Android devices. It just requires at least Java 6 .

• In Java 8 and later and on newer Android devices (from API level 26) the modern API comes built-in.
• In non-Android Java 6 and 7 get the ThreeTen Backport, the backport of the modern classes (ThreeTen for JSR 310; see the links at the bottom).
• On (older) Android use the Android edition of ThreeTen Backport. It's called ThreeTenABP. And make sure you import the date and time classes from org.threeten.bp with subpackages.

Links

• Oracle tutorial: Date Time explaining how to use java.time.
• Java Specification Request (JSR) 310 , where java.time was first described.
• ThreeTen Backport project , the backport of java.time to Java 6 and 7 (ThreeTen for JSR-310).
• ThreeTenABP , Android edition of ThreeTen Backport
• Question: How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project , with a very thorough explanation.