How to convert Milliseconds to "X mins, x seconds" in Java?

I want to record the time using System.currentTimeMillis() when a user begins something in my program. When he finishes, I will subtract the current System.currentTimeMillis() from the start variable, and I want to show them the time elapsed using a human readable format such as "XX hours, XX mins, XX seconds" or even "XX mins, XX seconds" because its not likely to take someone an hour.

What's the best way to do this?

Solution 1:

Use the java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit class:

String.format("%d min, %d sec", 
    TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toMinutes(millis),
    TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toSeconds(millis) - 
    TimeUnit.MINUTES.toSeconds(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toMinutes(millis))
);

Note: TimeUnit is part of the Java 1.5 specification, but toMinutes was added as of Java 1.6.

To add a leading zero for values 0-9, just do:

String.format("%02d min, %02d sec", 
    TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toMinutes(millis),
    TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toSeconds(millis) - 
    TimeUnit.MINUTES.toSeconds(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toMinutes(millis))
);

If TimeUnit or toMinutes are unsupported (such as on Android before API version 9), use the following equations:

int seconds = (int) (milliseconds / 1000) % 60 ;
int minutes = (int) ((milliseconds / (1000*60)) % 60);
int hours   = (int) ((milliseconds / (1000*60*60)) % 24);
//etc...

Solution 2:

Based on @siddhadev's answer, I wrote a function which converts milliseconds to a formatted string:

   /**
     * Convert a millisecond duration to a string format
     * 
     * @param millis A duration to convert to a string form
     * @return A string of the form "X Days Y Hours Z Minutes A Seconds".
     */
    public static String getDurationBreakdown(long millis) {
        if(millis < 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Duration must be greater than zero!");
        }

        long days = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toDays(millis);
        millis -= TimeUnit.DAYS.toMillis(days);
        long hours = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toHours(millis);
        millis -= TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(hours);
        long minutes = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toMinutes(millis);
        millis -= TimeUnit.MINUTES.toMillis(minutes);
        long seconds = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toSeconds(millis);

        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(64);
        sb.append(days);
        sb.append(" Days ");
        sb.append(hours);
        sb.append(" Hours ");
        sb.append(minutes);
        sb.append(" Minutes ");
        sb.append(seconds);
        sb.append(" Seconds");

        return(sb.toString());
    }