How to get current timestamp in Java

To get the current timestamp in Java:

1. Use the Instant class from Java 8 new date and time API.
2. The Instant.now() static method returns an object representing a specific moment in the timeline in UTC.

Instant now = Instant.now();

System.out.println(now);
// 2022-10-06T18:45:00.282494Z

An Instant is a unique point in the timeline and is mainly used to represent timestamps in Java 8 and higher. You can use this class to get the current moment from the system clock.

Alternatively, you can also convert an instance of java.sql.Timestamp to Instant as shown below:

Timestamp timestamp = new Timestamp(System.currentTimeMillis());
Instant now = timestamp.toInstant();

System.out.println(now);
// 2022-10-06T19:00:03.584Z

Another way to create an Instant object is using the java.util.Date class:

Date date = new Date();
Instant now = date.toInstant();

System.out.println(now);
// 2022-10-06T19:00:03.584Z

Note: To get a Unix timestamp (seconds from the epoch of 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z) in Java, use the Instant.now().getEpochSecond() method.

In Java 7 and below, you need to use the java.sql.Timestamp class to get the current timestamp:

// Use System.currentTimeMillis()
Timestamp timestamp = new Timestamp(System.currentTimeMillis());
// 2022-10-07 00:04:05.771

// Convert Date to Timestamp
Date date = new Date();
Timestamp timestamp = new Timestamp(date.getTime());

You may be interested in reading the following Java date and time tutorials:

• Introduction to Java 8 Date and Time API
• How to get current date and time in Java
• How to convert a string to date in Java

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