Converting times to formatted strings, dates, and datetimes.

Methods
Constants
DATE_FORMATS = { :db => "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", :number => "%Y%m%d%H%M%S", :time => "%H:%M", :short => "%d %b %H:%M", :long => "%B %d, %Y %H:%M", :long_ordinal => lambda { |time| time.strftime("%B #{time.day.ordinalize}, %Y %H:%M") }, :rfc822 => lambda { |time| time.strftime("%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S #{time.formatted_offset(false)}") }
Public Instance methods
formatted_offset(colon = true, alternate_utc_string = nil)

Returns the UTC offset as an +HH:MM formatted string. 

  Time.local(2000).formatted_offset         # => "-06:00"
  Time.local(2000).formatted_offset(false)  # => "-0600"

[ show source ]

    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 56
56:         def formatted_offset(colon = true, alternate_utc_string = nil)
57:           utc? && alternate_utc_string || utc_offset.to_utc_offset_s(colon)
58:         end
to_date()

Converts a Time object to a Date, dropping hour, minute, and second precision. 

  my_time = Time.now  # => Mon Nov 12 22:59:51 -0500 2007
  my_time.to_date     # => Mon, 12 Nov 2007

  your_time = Time.parse("1/13/2009 1:13:03 P.M.")  # => Tue Jan 13 13:13:03 -0500 2009
  your_time.to_date                                 # => Tue, 13 Jan 2009

[ show source ]

    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 67
67:         def to_date
68:           ::Date.new(year, month, day)
69:         end
to_datetime()

Converts a Time instance to a Ruby DateTime instance, preserving UTC offset. 

  my_time = Time.now    # => Mon Nov 12 23:04:21 -0500 2007
  my_time.to_datetime   # => Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:04:21 -0500

  your_time = Time.parse("1/13/2009 1:13:03 P.M.")  # => Tue Jan 13 13:13:03 -0500 2009
  your_time.to_datetime                             # => Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:13:03 -0500

[ show source ]

    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 84
84:         def to_datetime
85:           ::DateTime.civil(year, month, day, hour, min, sec, Rational(utc_offset, 86400))
86:         end
to_formatted_s(format = :default)

Converts to a formatted string. See DATE_FORMATS for builtin formats.

This method is aliased to to_s. 

  time = Time.now                     # => Thu Jan 18 06:10:17 CST 2007

  time.to_formatted_s(:time)          # => "06:10:17"
  time.to_s(:time)                    # => "06:10:17"

  time.to_formatted_s(:db)            # => "2007-01-18 06:10:17"
  time.to_formatted_s(:number)        # => "20070118061017"
  time.to_formatted_s(:short)         # => "18 Jan 06:10"
  time.to_formatted_s(:long)          # => "January 18, 2007 06:10"
  time.to_formatted_s(:long_ordinal)  # => "January 18th, 2007 06:10"
  time.to_formatted_s(:rfc822)        # => "Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:10:17 -0600"

Adding your own time formats to to_formatted_s

You can add your own formats to the Time::DATE_FORMATS hash. Use the format name as the hash key and either a strftime string or Proc instance that takes a time argument as the value. 

  # config/initializers/time_formats.rb
  Time::DATE_FORMATS[:month_and_year] = "%B %Y"
  Time::DATE_FORMATS[:short_ordinal] = lambda { |time| time.strftime("%B #{time.day.ordinalize}") }

[ show source ]

    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 47
47:         def to_formatted_s(format = :default)
48:           return to_default_s unless formatter = DATE_FORMATS[format]
49:           formatter.respond_to?(:call) ? formatter.call(self).to_s : strftime(formatter)
50:         end
to_time()

A method to keep Time, Date and DateTime instances interchangeable on conversions. In this case, it simply returns self.

[ show source ]

    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb, line 73
73:         def to_time
74:           self
75:         end