Java Compare two ZonedDateTime Values

In this Java core tutorial we learn how to compare two java.time.ZonedDateTime objects in Java programming language using compareTo(), isEqual(), equals(), isBefore() and isAfter() methods.

Table of contents

Compare two ZonedDateTime objects for Ordering using compareTo() method
How to compare two ZonedDateTime objects for Equality
Compare if a ZonedDateTime object is before another ZonedDateTime object
Compare if a ZonedDateTime object is after another ZonedDateTime object

Compare two ZonedDateTime objects for Ordering using compareTo() method

In Java, to compare two ZonedDateTime objects for ordering we can use the ZonedDateTime .compareTo() method which return int value of -1, 0 or 1 if the ZonedDateTime object is before, equal to or after the ZonedDateTime object it compare to.

The following Java example code to show the ZonedDateTime .compareTo() method return -1 when the ZonedDateTime object is before another ZonedDateTime object it compare to.

ZonedDateTimeCompareToExample1.java

import java.time.ZonedDateTime;

public class ZonedDateTimeCompareToExample1 {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime1 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-06-10T06:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime2 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");

        int compareToResult = zonedDateTime1.compareTo(zonedDateTime2);

        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1: " + zonedDateTime1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime2: " + zonedDateTime2);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 compare to zonedDateTime2: " + compareToResult);
    }
}

The output as below.

zonedDateTime1: 2022-06-10T06:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime2: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime1 compare to zonedDateTime2: -1

The following Java example code to show the ZonedDateTime .compareTo() method return 0 when the ZonedDateTime object is equal to another ZonedDateTime object it compare to.

ZonedDateTimeCompareToExample2.java

import java.time.ZonedDateTime;

public class ZonedDateTimeCompareToExample2 {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime1 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime2 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");

        int compareToResult = zonedDateTime1.compareTo(zonedDateTime2);

        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1: " + zonedDateTime1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime2: " + zonedDateTime2);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 compare to zonedDateTime2: " + compareToResult);
    }
}

The output as below.

zonedDateTime1: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime2: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime1 compare to zonedDateTime2: 0

The following Java example code to show the ZonedDateTime .compareTo() method return 1 when the ZonedDateTime object is after another ZonedDateTime object it compare to.

ZonedDateTimeCompareToExample3.java

import java.time.ZonedDateTime;

public class ZonedDateTimeCompareToExample3 {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime1 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-08-12T08:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime2 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");

        int compareToResult = zonedDateTime1.compareTo(zonedDateTime2);

        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1: " + zonedDateTime1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime2: " + zonedDateTime2);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 compare to zonedDateTime2: " + compareToResult);
    }
}

The output as below.

zonedDateTime1: 2022-08-12T08:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime2: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime1 compare to zonedDateTime2: 1

How to compare two ZonedDateTime objects for Equality

In Java to compare two ZonedDateTime values are equal or not we can use the ZonedDateTime.isEqual() method as the following example Java code.

ZonedDateTimeIsEqualExample1.java

import java.time.ZonedDateTime;

public class ZonedDateTimeIsEqualExample1 {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime1 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime2 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime3 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2023-08-22T08:01:01.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");

        boolean result1 = zonedDateTime1.isEqual(zonedDateTime2);
        boolean result2 = zonedDateTime1.isEqual(zonedDateTime3);

        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1: " + zonedDateTime1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime2: " + zonedDateTime2);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime3: " + zonedDateTime3);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 is equal zonedDateTime2: " + result1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 is equal zonedDateTime3: " + result2);
    }
}

The output as below.

zonedDateTime1: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime2: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime3: 2023-08-22T08:01:01.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime1 is equal zonedDateTime2: true
zonedDateTime1 is equal zonedDateTime3: false

We also can use the ZonedDateTime.equals() method which return the same result as ZonedDateTime.isEqual() method.

ZonedDateTimeEqualsExample1.java

import java.time.ZonedDateTime;

public class ZonedDateTimeEqualsExample1 {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime1 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime2 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime3 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2023-08-22T08:01:01.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");

        boolean result1 = zonedDateTime1.equals(zonedDateTime2);
        boolean result2 = zonedDateTime1.equals(zonedDateTime3);

        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1: " + zonedDateTime1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime2: " + zonedDateTime2);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime3: " + zonedDateTime3);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 is equal zonedDateTime2: " + result1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 is equal zonedDateTime3: " + result2);
    }
}

The output as below.

zonedDateTime1: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime2: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime3: 2023-08-22T08:01:01.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime1 is equal zonedDateTime2: true
zonedDateTime1 is equal zonedDateTime3: false

Compare if a ZonedDateTime object is before another ZonedDateTime object

In Java to check if a ZonedDateTime object is before another specified ZonedDateTime object we can use the ZonedDateTime.isBefore() method as following Java code.

ZonedDateTimeIsBeforeExample1.java

import java.time.ZonedDateTime;

public class ZonedDateTimeIsBeforeExample1 {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime1 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime2 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime3 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2023-08-22T08:01:01.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");

        boolean result1 = zonedDateTime1.isBefore(zonedDateTime2);
        boolean result2 = zonedDateTime1.isBefore(zonedDateTime3);

        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1: " + zonedDateTime1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime2: " + zonedDateTime2);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime3: " + zonedDateTime3);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 is before zonedDateTime2: " + result1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 is before zonedDateTime3: " + result2);
    }
}

The output as below.

zonedDateTime1: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime2: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime3: 2023-08-22T08:01:01.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime1 is before zonedDateTime2: false
zonedDateTime1 is before zonedDateTime3: true

Compare if a ZonedDateTime object is after another ZonedDateTime object

In Java to check if a ZonedDateTime object is after another specified ZonedDateTime object we can use the ZonedDateTime.isAfter() method as following Java code.

ZonedDateTimeIsAfterExample1.java

import java.time.ZonedDateTime;

public class ZonedDateTimeIsAfterExample1 {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime1 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-08-12T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime2 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");
        ZonedDateTime zonedDateTime3 = ZonedDateTime.parse("2023-06-22T08:01:01.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]");

        boolean result1 = zonedDateTime1.isAfter(zonedDateTime2);
        boolean result2 = zonedDateTime1.isAfter(zonedDateTime3);

        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1: " + zonedDateTime1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime2: " + zonedDateTime2);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime3: " + zonedDateTime3);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 is after zonedDateTime2: " + result1);
        System.out.println("zonedDateTime1 is after zonedDateTime3: " + result2);
    }
}

The output as below.

zonedDateTime1: 2022-08-12T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime2: 2022-07-11T07:00:00.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime3: 2023-06-22T08:01:01.777777+07:00[Asia/Bangkok]
zonedDateTime1 is after zonedDateTime2: true
zonedDateTime1 is after zonedDateTime3: false

Happy Coding 😊

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