date - Get GMT Time in Java

Question

In Java, I want to get the current time in GMT.

I tried various options like this:

Date date = new Date();
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT"));
date1 = calendar.getTime();

But the date is always is interpreted in my local time zone.

What am I doing wrong and how can I convert a java Date to GMT?

Answer 1

Odds are good you did the right stuff on the back end in getting the date, but there's nothing to indicate that you didn't take that GMT time and format it according to your machine's current locale.

final Date currentTime = new Date();

final SimpleDateFormat sdf =
        new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, MMM d, yyyy hh:mm:ss a z");

// Give it to me in GMT time.
sdf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT"));
System.out.println("GMT time: " + sdf.format(currentTime));

The key is to use your own DateFormat, not the system provided one. That way you can set the DateFormat's timezone to what you wish, instead of it being set to the Locale's timezone.