Convert Java Date to Pretty Time in Java

In this tutorial, we will learn how to convert Java Date to pretty time like moments ago, 1 hour ago, 1 week ago, 1 month ago, 1 year ago, and so on.

For this, we are using the prettytime dependency in our project.

If we are using a jar file download the desired jar file from the Maven repository and load the jar file in the application. Please follow How to add external jar or library on IntelliJ IDEA project

Loading PrettyTime in Gradle Project:

Add the following inside dependencies in the build.gradle file.

dependencies {
//other dependencies
 
implementation 'org.ocpsoft.prettytime:prettytime:5.0.3.Final'
}

Loading PrettyTime in Maven Project:

Add the following dependency inside the pom.xml file.

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.ocpsoft.prettytime</groupId>
  <artifactId>prettytime</artifactId>
  <version>5.0.3.Final</version>
  <type>bundle</type>
</dependency>

Pretty Time Format Date:

Now let's create a sample java class PrettyDateTime.java and create a converter method.

import org.ocpsoft.prettytime.PrettyTime;

import java.util.Date;

public class PrettyDateTime {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Date dateToConvert = new Date();
        System.out.println(convert(dateToConvert));
    }

    private static String convert(Date date) {
        PrettyTime p = new PrettyTime();
        return p.format(date);
    }
}

Here, we are creating the method convert which will convert the given Java Date to pretty time e.g moments ago.

Pretty Time format LocalDateTime:

import org.ocpsoft.prettytime.PrettyTime;

import java.time.LocalDateTime;

public class PrettyDateTime {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(convert(LocalDateTime.now().minusSeconds(864000)));
    }

    private static String convert(LocalDateTime date) {
        PrettyTime p = new PrettyTime();
        return p.format(date);
    }
}

Pretty Time format in multiple languages:

Pretty time supports i18n and multiple languages.

import org.ocpsoft.prettytime.PrettyTime;

import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Locale;

public class PrettyDateTime {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Date dateToConvert = new Date();
        System.out.println(convert(dateToConvert, new Locale("de")));
    }

    private static String convert(Date date, Locale locale) {
        PrettyTime p = new PrettyTime(locale);
        return p.format(date);
    }
}

Here, we are using german support with "de" locale. For available language support follow prettyTime