Calendar.before() method in Java

Last Updated : 25 Apr, 2018

java.util.Calendar.before() is a method in Calendar class of java.util package. The method returns true if the time represented by this Calendar is before the time represented by when Object. If it is not the case, false is returned.

Syntax :

public boolean before(Object when)

Where, when is the Object 
that is to be compared.

Below are some examples to understand the implementation of the Calendar.before() function in a better way.

Example 1 :

// Implementation to show the usage 
// of before(Object when) method of 
// Calendar class 
import java.util.*; 
  
class GFG { 
  
    public static void main(String[] args) 
        throws InterruptedException 
    { 
  
        // creating calendar object 
        Calendar cal_obj1 = Calendar.getInstance(); 
  
        // printing current date 
        System.out.println("Time 1 : " + cal_obj1.getTime()); 
  
        // sleep for 3 seconds 
        Thread.sleep(3000); 
  
        // creating Calendar object 
        Calendar cal_obj2 = Calendar.getInstance(); 
  
        // printing current date 
        System.out.println("Time 2 : " + cal_obj2.getTime()); 
  
        // checking if 1st date is before 2nd date 
        // and printing the result 
        System.out.println(cal_obj1.before(cal_obj2)); 
    } 
} 

Output :

Time 1 : Wed Feb 28 15:43:19 IST 2018
Time 2 : Wed Feb 28 15:43:22 IST 2018
true

Example 2 :

// Implementation to show the usage 
// of before(Object when) method of 
// Calendar class 
import java.util.*; 
  
class GFG { 
  
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
  
        // creating calendar objects 
        Calendar cal_obj1 = Calendar.getInstance(); 
        Calendar cal_obj2 = Calendar.getInstance(); 
  
        // displaying the current date 
        System.out.println("Current date is : " + cal_obj1.getTime()); 
  
        // changing year in cal_obj2 calendar 
        cal_obj2.set(Calendar.YEAR, 2010); 
  
        // displaying the year 
        System.out.println("Year is " + cal_obj2.get(Calendar.YEAR)); 
  
        // check if calendar date is before current date 
        System.out.println("Result : " + cal_obj1.before(cal_obj2)); 
    } 
} 

Output :

Current date is : Wed Feb 28 15:50:16 IST 2018
Year is 2010
Result : false

Example 3 :

// Implementation to show the usage 
// of before(Object when) method of 
// Calendar class 
import java.util.*; 
  
class GFG { 
  
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
  
        // creating calendar objects 
        Calendar cal_obj1 = Calendar.getInstance(); 
        Calendar cal_obj2 = Calendar.getInstance(); 
  
        // displaying the current date 
        System.out.println("Current date is : " + cal_obj1.getTime()); 
  
        // changing year in cal_obj2 calendar 
        cal_obj2.set(Calendar.YEAR, 2025); 
  
        // displaying the year 
        System.out.println("Year is " + cal_obj2.get(Calendar.YEAR)); 
  
        // check if calendar date is before current date 
        System.out.println("Result : " + cal_obj1.before(cal_obj2)); 
    } 
} 

Output :

Current date is : Wed Feb 28 16:15:55 IST 2018
Year is 2025
Result : true

Suggest improvement

Month firstDayOfYear() method in Java

GeeksforGeeks - JIIT 128 Association for Mega Events - Feb 2018

Share your thoughts in the comments

Calendar.before() method in Java

Please Login to comment...

Similar Reads

What kind of Experience do you want to share?