java - Android calculate days between two dates

Question

I have written the following code to find days between two dates

    startDateValue = new Date(startDate);
    endDateValue = new Date(endDate);
    long diff = endDateValue.getTime() - startDateValue.getTime();
    long seconds = diff / 1000;
    long minutes = seconds / 60;
    long hours = minutes / 60;
    long days = (hours / 24) + 1;
    Log.d("days", "" + days);

When start and end date are 2/3/2017 and 3/3/2017 respectively the number of days showing is 29.Though when they are of the same day it is showing 1.(The number of days one takes a leave.So if one takes a single day leave,he has to select same start and end date.So in this case he has taken two days leave).

What am I doing wrong? Thank you for your time.

Note: Please don't use the date constructor. Check the accepted answer below. Use simpledateformat or Joda time. Date constructor is deprecated.

Answer 1

Your code for generating date object:

Date date = new Date("2/3/2017"); //deprecated

You are getting 28 days as answer because according to Date(String) constructor it is thinking day = 3,month = 2 and year = 2017

You can convert String to Date as follows:

String dateStr = "2/3/2017";
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
Date date = sdf.parse(dateStr);

Use above template to make your Date object. Then use below code for calculating days in between two dates. Hope this clear the thing.

It can de done as follows:

long diff = endDateValue.getTime() - startDateValue.getTime();
System.out.println ("Days: " + TimeUnit.DAYS.convert(diff, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS));

Please check link

If you use Joda Time it is much more simple:

int days = Days.daysBetween(date1, date2).getDays();

Please check JodaTime

How to use JodaTime in Java Project