In Java, what is the fastest way to get the system time?

Question

I'm developing a system that often use the system time because the Delayed interface.

What is fastet way to get the time from system?

Currently I'm using Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis() every time I need to get the time, but I don't know if there is a faster way.

Answer 1

System.currentTimeMillis()
"Returns the current time in milliseconds" .
Use this to get the actual system time.

System.nanoTime() .
"The value returned represents nanoseconds since some fixed but arbitrary origin time"
Use this is you're measuring time lapses / events.

Answer 2

For large request number, I believe there should be a Thread in charge of update the current system time avoing each thread doing it independently.

Answer 3

In short answer, System.currentTimeMillis() is faster.

@Test
public void testSystemCurrentTime() {
    final Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1_00_000; i++) {
        System.currentTimeMillis();
    }
    stopwatch.stop();
    System.out.println("System.currentTimeMillis(): " + stopwatch);
}

@Test
public void testDateTime() {
    final Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1_00_000; i++) {
        (new Date()).getTime();
    }
    stopwatch.stop();
    System.out.println("(new Date()).getTime(): " + stopwatch);
}

@Test
public void testCalendarTime() {
    final Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1_00_000; i++) {
        Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis();
    }
    stopwatch.stop();
    System.out.println("Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): " + stopwatch);
}

I ran above test cases and I found following result:

System.currentTimeMillis(): 5.208 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 19.57 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 148.2 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 4.685 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 11.53 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 122.6 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 4.734 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 11.66 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 131.5 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 4.018 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 19.33 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 127.6 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 5.474 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 16.74 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 113.6 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 3.871 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 14.46 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 120.5 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 8.223 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 11.65 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 173.8 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 4.611 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 9.978 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 117.9 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 3.794 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 11.33 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 89.79 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 4.298 ms    (new Date()).getTime(): 12.37 ms    Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 123.8 ms

I hope, this will help you.

Answer 4

System.currentTimeMillis() is fastest as per below test case

public class ClassTest
{
    @Test
    public void testSystemCurrentTime()
    {
        final Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
        for (int i = 0; i < 1_00_000; i++)
        {
            System.currentTimeMillis();
        }
        stopwatch.stop();
        System.out.println("System.currentTimeMillis(): " + stopwatch);
    }

    @Test
    public void testDateTime()
    {
        final Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
        for (int i = 0; i < 1_00_000; i++)
        {
            (new Date()).getTime();
        }
        stopwatch.stop();
        System.out.println("(new Date()).getTime(): " + stopwatch);
    }

    @Test
    public void testCalendarTime()
    {
        final Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
        for (int i = 0; i < 1_00_000; i++)
        {
            Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis();
        }
        stopwatch.stop();
        System.out.println("Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): " + stopwatch);
    }

    @Test
    public void testInstantNow()
    {
        final Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.createStarted();
        for (int i = 0; i < 1_00_000; i++)
        {
            Instant.now();
        }
        stopwatch.stop();
        System.out.println("Instant.now(): " + stopwatch);
    }
}

Output:

(new Date()).getTime(): 36.89 ms
Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis(): 448.0 ms
Instant.now(): 34.13 ms
System.currentTimeMillis(): 10.28 ms

But ,

Instant.now() is fast + simpler and provides other utility as well like Instant.now().getEpochSecond(); , Instant.now().getNano(); , Instant.now().compareTo(otherInstant); and many more.

Answer 5

long timeMilliSec = System.currentTimeMillis();

Answer 6

System.currentTimeMillis() probably.

Answer 7

System.currentTimeMillis 

is the simple answer