.equals()

The .equals() method of the Date class compares the current Date object to the specified object. It will return true if the dates are equal (differences evaluated down to the millisecond). Otherwise, it returns false.

Syntax

dateOne.equals(dateTwo)

Note: The return type of the method is boolean so this method will return either true or false.

Example

In this example, the JavaDateEqualsExample class demonstrates the use of .equals().

import java.util.Date;

public class JavaDateEqualsExample {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Create a new date object
    Date dateOne = new Date();

    // Print the current date and time
    System.out.println("first date object - current date and Time : " + dateOne);

    // Create a second date object
    Date dateTwo = new Date();

    // Print second date object
    System.out.println("second date object - current date and Time : " + dateTwo);

    // Compare the first and second date object using equals() method
    boolean dateEqual = dateOne.equals(dateTwo);

    // Print the result
    System.out.println("first date object and second date object are equal: " + dateEqual);
    }
}

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This code will return an output similar to the following:

first date object - current date and Time : Fri Aug 18 22:55:26 IST 2023
second date object - current date and Time : Fri Aug 18 22:55:26 IST 2023
first date object and second date object are equal: false

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Note: The output of the above example is false because the method considers differences down to the millisecond.