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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-18T04:01:44+00:00

I’m calling toString() (or difference.normalizedStandard().toString()) on a Period object, and getting PT-10H0.317S Why is

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I’m calling toString() (or difference.normalizedStandard().toString()) on a Period object, and getting “PT-10H0.317S“

Why is the default toString so inconvenient? What does this string even mean?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The period toString is defined in AbstractPeriod#toString(), which delegates to ISOPeriodFormat. Here’s the JavaDoc:

    /**
 * The standard ISO format - PyYmMwWdDThHmMsS.
 * Milliseconds are not output.
 * Note that the ISO8601 standard actually indicates weeks should not
 * be shown if any other field is present and vice versa.
 *
 * @return the formatter
 */

    …so apparently it’s the ISO 8601 standard format for periods of time. To take manual control of the output, use org.joda.time.format.PeriodFormatterBuilder.

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