Converting datetimes to formatted strings, dates, and times.

Methods
Public Instance methods
formatted_offset(colon = true, alternate_utc_string = nil)

Returns the utc_offset as an +HH:MM formatted string. Examples: 

  datetime = DateTime.civil(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, Rational(-6, 24))
  datetime.formatted_offset         # => "-06:00"
  datetime.formatted_offset(false)  # => "-0600"

[ show source ]

    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date_time/conversions.rb, line 58
58:         def formatted_offset(colon = true, alternate_utc_string = nil)
59:           utc? && alternate_utc_string || utc_offset.to_utc_offset_s(colon)
60:         end
readable_inspect()

Overrides the default inspect method with a human readable one, e.g., "Mon, 21 Feb 2005 14:30:00 +0000"

[ show source ]

    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date_time/conversions.rb, line 63
63:         def readable_inspect
64:           to_s(:rfc822)
65:         end
to_date()

Converts self to a Ruby Date object; time portion is discarded

[ show source ]

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

To be able to keep Times, Dates and DateTimes interchangeable on conversions

[ show source ]

    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date_time/conversions.rb, line 79
79:         def to_datetime
80:           self
81:         end
to_f()

Converts self to a floating-point number of seconds since the Unix epoch

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    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date_time/conversions.rb, line 89
89:         def to_f
90:           seconds_since_unix_epoch.to_f
91:         end
to_formatted_s(format = :default)

Convert to a formatted string. See Time::DATE_FORMATS for predefined formats.

This method is aliased to to_s.

Examples

  datetime = DateTime.civil(2007, 12, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0)   # => Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

  datetime.to_formatted_s(:db)            # => "2007-12-04 00:00:00"
  datetime.to_s(:db)                      # => "2007-12-04 00:00:00"
  datetime.to_s(:number)                  # => "20071204000000"
  datetime.to_formatted_s(:short)         # => "04 Dec 00:00"
  datetime.to_formatted_s(:long)          # => "December 04, 2007 00:00"
  datetime.to_formatted_s(:long_ordinal)  # => "December 4th, 2007 00:00"
  datetime.to_formatted_s(:rfc822)        # => "Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000"

Adding your own datetime formats to to_formatted_s

DateTime formats are shared with Time. You can add your own 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 or datetime 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/date_time/conversions.rb, line 48
48:         def to_formatted_s(format = :default)
49:           return to_default_s unless formatter = ::Time::DATE_FORMATS[format]
50:           formatter.respond_to?(:call) ? formatter.call(self).to_s : strftime(formatter)
51:         end
to_i()

Converts self to an integer number of seconds since the Unix epoch

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    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date_time/conversions.rb, line 94
94:         def to_i
95:           seconds_since_unix_epoch.to_i
96:         end
to_time()

Attempts to convert self to a Ruby Time object; returns self if out of range of Ruby Time class If self has an offset other than 0, self will just be returned unaltered, since there‘s no clean way to map it to a Time

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    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date_time/conversions.rb, line 74
74:         def to_time
75:           self.offset == 0 ? ::Time.utc_time(year, month, day, hour, min, sec) : self
76:         end
xmlschema()

Converts datetime to an appropriate format for use in XML

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    # File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/date_time/conversions.rb, line 84
84:         def xmlschema
85:           strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%Z")
86:         end