How to get yesterday and tomorrow date in java with example

This tutorial explores multiple ways to find yesterday’s date and tomorrow’s date in Java.

• FInd yesterday Date using LocalDate minusDays(1) method and Calendar instance
• Get Tomorrow’s Date using LocalDate plusDays(1)method and Calendar instance

#Find Yesterday’s Date

There are multiple ways we can retrieve the last 1-day date or previous day date in java.

• Using Java 8 LocalDate

  Java 8 introduced the LocalDate examples class in the java.time package, making it easy to manipulate dates.

  • Get the current date using the LocalDate.now() method. LocalDate stores date information without the time and zone.
  • Use the minusDays method to obtain the previous day.

  import java.time.LocalDate;
  public class Test {
      public static void main(String[] args)  throws Exception{
          LocalDate currentDate = LocalDate.now();
          System.out.println(currentDate); // 2021-09-01
          LocalDate previousDay = currentDate.minusDays(1);
          System.out.println(previousDay);  //2021-08-31
      }
  }
  

  If you need the previous date and time, you can use the LocalDateTime class in place of LocalDate.

  import java.time.LocalDateTime;
  
  public class Test {
      public static void main(String[] args)  throws Exception{
          LocalDateTime currentDate = LocalDateTime.now();
          System.out.println(currentDate); // 2021-09-01T10:08:55.568
          LocalDateTime previousDay = currentDate.minusDays(1);
          System.out.println(previousDay);  //2021-08-31T10:08:55.568
  
      }
  }
  

• Using Calendar Object

  The Calendar abstract class, available in the java.util package, allows you to manipulate specific date and time values.

  Here’s an example of printing yesterday’s date and time:

  • It prints the Date object from the calendar using the getTime method.

  import java.text.DateFormat;
  import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
  import java.util.Calendar;
  
  public class Test {
      public static void main(String[] args)  throws Exception{
  
          DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MMM-dd");
          Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
          calendar.add(Calendar.DATE, -1);
          System.out.println(calendar.getTime());  //Tue Aug 31 09:56:28 IST 2021
          dateFormat.format(calendar.getTime()); // Change format as per "yyyy-MMM-dd"
      }
  }
  

  let’s see an example of how to set yesterday’s date into a calendar object

  you can get the previous day using Calendar.HOUR= -24 hours or Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH =-1 as given example

  import java.util.Calendar;
  
  public class Test {
      public static void main(String[] args)  throws Exception{
  
          Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
          calendar.add(Calendar.HOUR, -24);
          System.out.println(calendar.getTime());  //Tue Aug 31 11:08:25 IST 2021
  
          Calendar calendar2 = Calendar.getInstance();
          calendar2.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, -1);
          calendar2.getTime();
          System.out.println(calendar.getTime());  //Tue Aug 31 11:08:25 IST 2021
  
      }
  }
  

#Get Tomorrow’s Date

The following ways are to get the next date in java.

To get tomorrow’s date, you can use the LocalDate plusDays(1) method with LocalDate or a Calendar instance.

• Using Java 8 LocalDate

  LocalDate.plusDays() method return the future days. for tomorrow’s date, We can pass 1 as a parameter.

  Get the current date using LocalDate.now(). Use the plusDays method to obtain the next day.

  This example returns tomorrow with Date only not time information.

  import java.time.LocalDate;
  public class Test {
      public static void main(String[] args)  throws Exception{
          LocalDate currentDate = LocalDate.now();
          System.out.println(currentDate); // 2021-09-01
          LocalDate previousDay = currentDate.plusDays(1);
          System.out.println(previousDay);  //2021-09-02
      }
  }
  

  • LocalDateTime to return Tomorrow date and time

  import java.time.LocalDateTime;
  
  public class Test {
      public static void main(String[] args)  throws Exception{
          LocalDateTime currentDate = LocalDateTime.now();
          System.out.println(currentDate); // 2021-09-01T11:14:45.223
          LocalDateTime previousDay = currentDate.plusDays(1);
          System.out.println(previousDay);  //2021-09-02T11:14:45.223
      }
  }
  

• With Calendar Object Calendar Object is a legacy class that works before the java8 version.

  Adding Calendar.HOUR=+24 or Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH=+1 to calendar object sets Calendar time to tomorrows date using add() method

  Here is an example

  import java.util.Calendar;
  
  public class Test {
      public static void main(String[] args)  throws Exception{
  
          Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
          calendar.add(Calendar.HOUR, +24);
          System.out.println(calendar.getTime());  //Tue Aug 31 11:08:25 IST 2021
  
          Calendar calendar2 = Calendar.getInstance();
          calendar2.add(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, +1);
          calendar2.getTime();
          System.out.println(calendar.getTime());  //Tue Aug 31 11:08:25 IST 2021
  
      }
  }
  

#Conclusion

In this tutorial, you’ve learned various approaches to get previous and next dates in Java, including:

• Using Java 8 LocalDate and LocalDateTime classes.
• Utilizing the legacy Calendar class for date manipulation. For date and time manipulation, Java 8 classes are recommended due to their robustness.