SimpleDateFormat inputParser = new SimpleDateFormat(inputFormat, Locale.US);  private void compareDates(){     Calendar now = Calendar.getInstance();      int hour = now.get(Calendar.HOUR);     int minute = now.get(Calendar.MINUTE);      date = parseDate(hour + ":" + minute);     dateCompareOne = parseDate(compareStringOne);     dateCompareTwo = parseDate(compareStringTwo);      if ( dateCompareOne.before( date ) && dateCompareTwo.after(date)) {         //yada yada     } }  private Date parseDate(String date) {      try {         return inputParser.parse(date);     } catch (java.text.ParseException e) {         return new Date(0);     } }

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