How to get current timestamps in Java

Timestamp timestamp = new Timestamp(System.currentTimeMillis());
//2016-11-16 06:43:19.77

Here are two Java examples to show you how to get current timestamps in Java. (Updated with Java 8)

1. java.sql.Timestamp
Two methods to get the current java.sql.Timestamp

TimeStampExample.java
package com.mkyong.date;

import java.sql.Timestamp;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

public class TimeStampExample {

private static final SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy.MM.dd.HH.mm.ss");

public static void main(String[] args) {

//method 1
Timestamp timestamp = new Timestamp(System.currentTimeMillis());
System.out.println(timestamp);

//method 2 - via Date
Date date = new Date();
System.out.println(new Timestamp(date.getTime()));

//return number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT
System.out.println(timestamp.getTime());

//format timestamp
System.out.println(sdf.format(timestamp));

}

}

Output

2016-11-16 06:43:19.77
2016-11-16 06:43:19.769
1479249799770
2016.11.16.06.43.19

2. java.time.Instant
In Java 8, you can convert java.sql.Timestamp to the new java.time.Instant

InstantExample.java
package com.mkyong.date;

import java.sql.Timestamp;
import java.time.Instant;

public class InstantExample {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Timestamp timestamp = new Timestamp(System.currentTimeMillis());
System.out.println(timestamp);

//return number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT
System.out.println(timestamp.getTime());

// Convert timestamp to instant
Instant instant = timestamp.toInstant();
System.out.println(instant);

//return number of milliseconds since the epoch of 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z
System.out.println(instant.toEpochMilli());

// Convert instant to timestamp
Timestamp tsFromInstant = Timestamp.from(instant);
System.out.println(tsFromInstant.getTime());

}

}

Output

2016-11-16 06:55:40.11
1479250540110
2016-11-15T22:55:40.110Z
1479250540110
1479250540110
http://www.mkyong.com/java/how-to-get-current-timestamps-in-java/
http://www.mkyong.com/tutorials/java-date-time-tutorials/