Calendar.get() Method in Java

In Java, the Calendar class represents a specific moment in time and provides methods to extract individual date and time fields. One most commonly used method of the Calendar class is get(int field) method. This method returns the value of a given calendar field, such as year, month, or day.

In this article, we are going to learn about the Calendar.get() method in Java.

Syntax of Calendar.get() Method

public int get(int field)

• Parameter: field: This field is one of the constants defined in java.util.Calendar. For example, Calendar.YEAR, Calendar.MONTH, Calendar.DATE.
• Return Value: It returns the value of the requested field. For example, 2025 for Calendar.YEAR.

Important Points:

• Calendar.MONTH returns values from 0 to 11 means January to December.
• To display a human-readable month number, add 1 to the returned value.
• Calendar.DATE and Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH both are the same.

Examples of Java Calendar.get() Method

Example 1: Current Date Values

Current Date: 2025-5-7

Explanation:

• get(Calendar.YEAR) returns the 4-digit year.
• get(Calendar.MONTH) returns 4 for May, so we add 1.
• get(Calendar.DATE) returns the day of the month.

Example 2: Specific Date

Set Date: 2023-7-21

Common Fields

Reference:https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/Calendar.html#get(int)