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Java Instant Class | minus() Method with Example

Instant Class minus() method: Here, we are going to learn about the minus() method of Instant Class with its syntax and example.
Submitted by Preeti Jain, on May 28, 2020

Instant Class minus() method

Syntax:

    public Instant minus(TemporalAmount t_amt);
    public Instant minus(long amt, TemporalUnit t_unit);

• minus() method is available in java.time package.
• minus(TemporalAmount t_amt) method is used to subtract the given amount from this Instant and return the Instant.
• minus(long amt, TemporalUnit t_unit) method is used to subtract the given amount in the given unit from this Instant and return the Instant.
• These methods may throw an exception at the time of performing subtraction.
  • ArithmeticException: This exception may throw when the calculated result exceeds the limit to represent this object.
  • DateTimeException: This exception may throw when getting any error during subtraction.
  • UnsupportedTemporalTypeException: This exception may throw when the given unit is unsupported.
• These are non-static methods and it is accessible with class objects and if we try to access these methods with class name then we will get an error.

Parameter(s):

• In the first case, "minus(TemporalAmount t_amt)",
  • TemporalAmount t_amt – represents the amount to be subtracted from this Instant.
• In the second case, "minus(long amt, TemporalUnit t_unit)",
  • long amt – represents the amount in units to be subtracted from this Instant.
  • TemporalUnit t_unit – represents the unit to measure the given amount.

Return value:

In both the cases, the return type of the method is Instant,

• In the first case, it returns the Instant that holds the value subtracted the given amount from this Instant.
• In the second case, it returns the Instant that holds the value subtracted the given amount in unit from this Instant.

Example:

// Java program to demonstrate the example 
// of minus() method of Instant

import java.time.*;
import java.time.temporal.*;

public class MinusOfInstant {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        long amt = 2;
        // Instantiates two Instant and
        // a Duration object
        Instant ins1 = Instant.parse("2006-04-03T05:10:15.00Z");
        Instant ins2 = Instant.now();
        Duration du = Duration.ofSeconds(2);

        // Display ins1,ins2
        System.out.println("Instant ins1 and ins2: ");
        System.out.println("ins1: " + ins1);
        System.out.println("ins2: " + ins2);
        System.out.println("amt to subtract: " + amt);
        System.out.println("du to subtract: " + du);

        System.out.println();

        // Here, this method subtracts the given amount
        // in the given unit from this Instant i.e. here
        // we are subtracting 2 hours from Instant ins1
        Instant minus_val = ins1.minus(amt, ChronoUnit.HOURS);

        // Display minus_val
        System.out.println("ins1.minus(amt,ChronoUnit.HOURS): " + minus_val);

        // Here, this method subtracts the given amount
        // from this Instant i.e. here we are subtracting
        // 2 seconds from Instant ins2
        minus_val = ins2.minus(du);

        // Display minus_val
        System.out.println("ins2.minus(du): " + minus_val);
    }
}

Output

Instant ins1 and ins2: 
ins1: 2006-04-03T05:10:15Z
ins2: 2020-05-28T01:06:04.706169Z
amt to subtract: 2
du to subtract: PT2S

ins1.minus(amt,ChronoUnit.HOURS): 2006-04-03T03:10:15Z
ins2.minus(du): 2020-05-28T01:06:02.706169Z