tl;dr
Apparently you want to get the current date as seen in the wall-clock time used by the people of a particular region, add ten months, and then generate text representing the value of that found date.
LocalDate.now(
ZoneId.of( "Pacific/Auckland" )
)
.plus(
Period.ofMonths( 10 )
)
.format(
DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate( FormatStyle.LONG )
.withLocale( Locale.ITALY )
)
java.time
The modern approach uses the java.time classes that supplanted the terrible Date & Calendar classes.
LocalDate
The LocalDate class represents a date-only value without time-of-day and without time zone.
A time zone is crucial in determining a date. For any given moment, the date varies around the globe by zone. For example, a few minutes after midnight in Paris France is a new day while still “yesterday” in Montréal Québec.
If no time zone is specified, the JVM implicitly applies its current default time zone. That default may change at any moment during runtime(!), so your results may vary. Better to specify your [desired/expected time zone][2] explicitly as an argument.
Specify a proper time zone name in the format of continent/region, such as America/Montreal, Africa/Casablanca, or Pacific/Auckland. Never use the 3-4 letter abbreviation such as EST or IST as they are not true time zones, not standardized, and not even unique(!).
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "America/Montreal" ) ;
LocalDate today = LocalDate.now( z ) ;
If you want to use the JVM’s current default time zone, ask for it and pass as an argument. If omitted, the JVM’s current default is applied implicitly. Better to be explicit, as the default may be changed at any moment during runtime by any code in any thread of any app within the JVM.
ZoneId z = ZoneId.systemDefault() ; // Get JVM’s current default time zone.
Or specify a date. You may set the month by a number, with sane numbering 1-12 for January-December.
LocalDate ld = LocalDate.of( 1986 , 2 , 23 ) ; // Years use sane direct numbering (1986 means year 1986). Months use sane numbering, 1-12 for January-December.
Or, better, use the Month enum objects pre-defined, one for each month of the year. Tip: Use these Month objects throughout your codebase rather than a mere integer number to make your code more self-documenting, ensure valid values, and provide type-safety.
LocalDate ld = LocalDate.of( 1986 , Month.FEBRUARY , 23 ) ;
Adding to a date
Define the span-of-time you want to add.
Period p = Period.ofMonths( 10 ) ; // Ten months span, unattached to timeline.
Add the period to our LocalDate to get another LocalDate. As an immutable object, LocalDate produces a new instance based on the values of the original object.
LocalDate later = ld.plus( p ) ;
Generating text
To generate text in standard ISO 8601 format, call toString.
String output = later.toString() ;
To generate text in a String representing the value of our LocalDate, use the DateTimeFormatter class.
- Generally best to let java.time automatically localize by calling the
DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalized… methods.
- To hard-code a specific format, specify a formatting pattern.
This has been covered many times already, so search Stack Overflow for more discussion and examples.
To localize, specify:
FormatStyle to determine how long or abbreviated should the string be.
Locale to determine:
- The human language for translation of name of day, name of month, and such.
- The cultural norms deciding issues of abbreviation, capitalization, punctuation, separators, and such.
Example:
Locale l = Locale.CANADA_FRENCH ; // Or Locale.US, Locale.JAPAN, etc.
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate( FormatStyle.LONG )
.withLocale( l );
String output = later.format( f );
About java.time
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.
To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.
You may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. Use a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later. No need for strings, no need for java.sql.* classes.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.