Comparing two dates import java.util.*; import java.text.*; public class CompareDates { public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException { DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat ("yyyy-MM-dd"); // Get Date 1 Date d1 = df.parse(args[0]); // Get Date 2 Date d2 = df.parse(args[1]); String relation; if (d1.equals(d2)) relation = "the same date as"; else if (d1.before(d2)) relation = "before"; else relation = "after"; System.out.println(d1 + " is " + relation + ' ' + d2); } }