Parse Duration String Java 7

Question

I want to parse Duration strings in Java 7, like PT45M. I try with SimpleDataFormat but not exist any pattern like PnDTnHnMn.nS. Is there any way to do it?

Answer 1

ThreeTen Backport

As you may or may not be aware, and as the other answer says, the Duration class of java,time introduced in Java 8 can do that. The good news is that java.time has been backported to Java 6 and 7 too. Get the backport from the link at the bottom and go ahead. For example:

    System.out.println("Java version: " + System.getProperty("java.version"));

    Duration dur = Duration.parse("PT45M");

    System.out.println("Parsed duration: " + dur);
    System.out.println("Converted to whole seconds: " + dur.getSeconds());

On my computer output from this piece of code was:

Java version: 1.7.0_67
Parsed duration: PT45M
Converted to whole seconds: 2700

Links

• Oracle tutorial: Date Time explaining how to use java.time.
• Java Specification Request (JSR) 310, where java.time was first described.
• ThreeTen Backport project, the backport of java.time to Java 6 and 7 (ThreeTen for JSR-310).
• ThreeTenABP, Android edition of ThreeTen Backport
• Question: How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project, with a very thorough explanation.
• Wikipedia article: ISO 8601

Answer 2

Have a look at Java Documentation for Duration. You can convert that string to a duration object via parse method and get seconds with getSeconds() method. Then you can convert seconds to regular java DateTime API objects.