Getting CST and EST time same in java

Question

I am getting same time for EST and CST.Please find the code below.

Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("EST")); and Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("CST")); both returns the same time.

Please help me to resolve this issue.

Answer 1

The reason you get the same time is because EST returns Standard time while CST the Daylight time.

Date today = new Date();
DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:SS z");
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("US/Eastern"));
String time = df.format(today);
System.out.println(time);
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("EST"));
time = df.format(today);
System.out.println(time);
df.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("CST"));
time = df.format(today);
System.out.println(time);

and this is the output:

04:55:839 EDT
03:55:839 EST
03:55:839 CDT

EST time is not the correct time because it is actually 04:55 there right now, so US/Eastern will give you the correct (EDT) time. As a rule of thumb, I would recommend always using the US/Eastern and US/Central formats for safety.