public static void main( String[] args ) 
    {
     try{
 
      SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
         Date date1 = sdf.parse("2009-12-31");
         Date date2 = sdf.parse("2010-01-31");
 
         System.out.println(sdf.format(date1));
         System.out.println(sdf.format(date2));
 
         if(date1.compareTo(date2)>0){
          System.out.println("Date1 is after Date2");
         }else if(date1.compareTo(date2)<0){
          System.out.println("Date1 is before Date2");
         }else if(date1.compareTo(date2)==0){
          System.out.println("Date1 is equal to Date2");
         }else{
          System.out.println("How to get here?");
         }
 
     }catch(ParseException ex){
      ex.printStackTrace();
     }
    }