Get abbreviation from Java TimeZone?

Question

I need to get the Abbreviation(as String) for the existing Java TimeZone Object. Is there any way to do this without direct mapping ?

Eg- TimeZone     -  ("America/Los_Angeles") 
    Abbreviation -  PDT

Answer 1

Looks like you are looking for this:

String s = TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/Los_Angeles")
                   .getDisplayName(false, TimeZone.SHORT);

Answer 2

java.time

I suggest that the abbreviation you want for America/Los_Angeles would be PT for Pacific Time. This name and this abbreviation can be used all year regardless of summer time (DST). By contrast PDT is for Pacific Daylight Time so is used during summer only.

    ZoneId zone = ZoneId.of("America/Los_Angeles");

    System.out.println("Summer time neutral abbreviation: "
            + zone.getDisplayName(TextStyle.SHORT_STANDALONE, Locale.ENGLISH));

Output:

Summer time neutral abbreviation: PT

If you want the abbreviation relevant for this part of year only (standard time or summer time):

    DateTimeFormatter zoneAbbreviationFormatter
            = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("zzz", Locale.ENGLISH);
    System.out.println("Current abbreviation for either standard or summer time: "
            + ZonedDateTime.now(zone).format(zoneAbbreviationFormatter));

Output when running in May:

Current abbreviation for either standard or summer time: PDT

Please substitute your desired locale. For many locales it will not make any difference, but some time zones have localized abbreviations for some locales.