[java] java: run a function after a specific number of seconds

All other unswers require to run your code inside a new thread. In some simple use cases you may just want to wait a bit and continue execution within the same thread/flow.

Code below demonstrates that technique. Keep in mind this is similar to what java.util.Timer does under the hood but more lightweight.

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
public class DelaySample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
       DelayUtil d = new DelayUtil();
       System.out.println("started:"+ new Date());
       d.delay(500);
       System.out.println("half second after:"+ new Date());
       d.delay(1, TimeUnit.MINUTES); 
       System.out.println("1 minute after:"+ new Date());
    }
}

DelayUtil Implementation

import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.locks.Condition;
import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock;

public class DelayUtil {
    /** 
    *  Delays the current thread execution. 
    *  The thread loses ownership of any monitors. 
    *  Quits immediately if the thread is interrupted
    *  
    * @param duration the time duration in milliseconds
    */
   public void delay(final long durationInMillis) {
      delay(durationInMillis, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
   }

   /** 
    * @param duration the time duration in the given {@code sourceUnit}
    * @param unit
    */
    public void delay(final long duration, final TimeUnit unit) {
        long currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
        long deadline = currentTime+unit.toMillis(duration);
        ReentrantLock lock = new ReentrantLock();
        Condition waitCondition = lock.newCondition();

        while ((deadline-currentTime)>0) {
            try {
                lock.lockInterruptibly();    
                waitCondition.await(deadline-currentTime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
                return;
            } finally {
                lock.unlock();
            }
            currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
        }
    }
}