由于这里所有的答案都是正确的，但使用传统java或第三方库，如joda或类似的，我将放弃使用新java的另一种方式。Java 8及以后版本中的时间类。参见Oracle教程。

使用LocalDate和ChronoUnit:

LocalDate d1 = LocalDate.of(2017, 5, 1);
LocalDate d2 = LocalDate.of(2017, 5, 18);

long days = ChronoUnit.DAYS.between(d1, d2);
System.out.println( days );

不使用标准API，不行。你可以这样做:

class Duration {
    private final TimeUnit unit;
    private final long length;
    // ...
}

或者你可以使用Joda:

DateTime a = ..., b = ...;
Duration d = new Duration(a, b);

使用GMT时区获取一个Calendar实例，使用Calendar类的set方法设置时间。GMT时区偏移量为0(并不重要)，夏令时标志设置为false。

    final Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT"));

    cal.set(Calendar.YEAR, 2011);
    cal.set(Calendar.MONTH, 9);
    cal.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, 29);
    cal.set(Calendar.HOUR, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
    final Date startDate = cal.getTime();

    cal.set(Calendar.YEAR, 2011);
    cal.set(Calendar.MONTH, 12);
    cal.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, 21);
    cal.set(Calendar.HOUR, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
    final Date endDate = cal.getTime();

    System.out.println((endDate.getTime() - startDate.getTime()) % (1000l * 60l * 60l * 24l));

注意:startDate和endDates为-> java.util.Date

import org.joda.time.Duration;
import org.joda.time.Interval;
// Use .getTime() unless it is a joda DateTime object
Interval interval = new Interval(startDate.getTime(), endDate.getTime());
Duration period = interval.toDuration();
//gives the number of days elapsed between start and end date.
period.getStandardDays();

与天类似，你也可以得到小时、分钟和秒

period.getStandardHours();
period.getStandardMinutes();
period.getStandardSeconds();

简单的diff(不含lib)

/**
 * Get a diff between two dates
 * @param date1 the oldest date
 * @param date2 the newest date
 * @param timeUnit the unit in which you want the diff
 * @return the diff value, in the provided unit
 */
public static long getDateDiff(Date date1, Date date2, TimeUnit timeUnit) {
    long diffInMillies = date2.getTime() - date1.getTime();
    return timeUnit.convert(diffInMillies,TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
}

然后你可以调用:

getDateDiff(date1,date2,TimeUnit.MINUTES);

以分钟为单位获取两个日期的差值。

TimeUnit是java.util.concurrent。TimeUnit，一个从纳米到天的标准Java枚举。

人类可读的差异(不含lib)

public static Map<TimeUnit,Long> computeDiff(Date date1, Date date2) {

    long diffInMillies = date2.getTime() - date1.getTime();

    //create the list
    List<TimeUnit> units = new ArrayList<TimeUnit>(EnumSet.allOf(TimeUnit.class));
    Collections.reverse(units);

    //create the result map of TimeUnit and difference
    Map<TimeUnit,Long> result = new LinkedHashMap<TimeUnit,Long>();
    long milliesRest = diffInMillies;

    for ( TimeUnit unit : units ) {
        
        //calculate difference in millisecond 
        long diff = unit.convert(milliesRest,TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
        long diffInMilliesForUnit = unit.toMillis(diff);
        milliesRest = milliesRest - diffInMilliesForUnit;

        //put the result in the map
        result.put(unit,diff);
    }

    return result;
}

http://ideone.com/5dXeu6

输出类似Map:{DAYS=1, HOURS=3, MINUTES=46, SECONDS=40, MILLISECONDS=0, MICROSECONDS=0, NANOSECONDS=0}，单位是有序的。

您只需将该映射转换为用户友好的字符串。

警告

上面的代码段计算两个瞬间之间的简单差。它会在夏令时切换期间导致问题，就像这篇文章中解释的那样。这意味着如果你计算没有时间的日期之间的差异，你可能会少了一天/小时。

在我看来，日期的差异是主观的，尤其是在日子上。你可以:

计算经过24小时的时间:day+1 - day = 1 day = 24h 计算经过的时间，考虑到夏令时:天+1 -天= 1 = 24小时(但使用午夜时间和夏令时，它可以是0天和23小时) 计算日开关的数量，这意味着一天+1 1pm -一天11am = 1天，即使经过的时间只有2h(如果有夏令时则为1h:p)

我的答案是有效的，如果你的日期差异的定义天匹配第一种情况

与JodaTime

如果你正在使用JodaTime，你可以得到2个瞬间的差异(millies支持ReadableInstant)日期:

Interval interval = new Interval(oldInstant, new Instant());

但是你也可以得到本地日期/时间的差异:

// returns 4 because of the leap year of 366 days
new Period(LocalDate.now(), LocalDate.now().plusDays(365*5), PeriodType.years()).getYears() 

// this time it returns 5
new Period(LocalDate.now(), LocalDate.now().plusDays(365*5+1), PeriodType.years()).getYears() 

// And you can also use these static methods
Years.yearsBetween(LocalDate.now(), LocalDate.now().plusDays(365*5)).getYears()

下面的代码可以给你想要的输出:

String startDate = "Jan 01 2015";
DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMM dd yyyy");
LocalDate date = LocalDate.parse(startDate, formatter);

String currentDate = "Feb 11 2015";
LocalDate date1 = LocalDate.parse(currentDate, formatter);

System.out.println(date1.toEpochDay() - date.toEpochDay());