# DateTime.strptime() **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [December 14, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/datetime-strptime/79301 "2006-12-14T01:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![javamllama](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@javamllama](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/javamllama)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/datetime-strptime/79301/1 "2006-12-14T01:04:19Z")
Sorry for posting a beginner question here, but it seems like date/format.rb is missing documentation on [ruby-doc.org](http://ruby-doc.org). So, the question is, why does this code not work? (I’m using ruby-1.8.4) irb(main):001:0\> require ‘date’ =\> true irb(main):002:0\> myd = DateTime.strptime(“1166049481”, ‘%s’) ArgumentError: 3 elements of civil date are necessary from lib/ruby/1.8/date.rb:1214:in `new_with_hash' from lib/ruby/1.8/date.rb:1238:in `strptime’ from (irb):2 I was able to make this work: Date::strptime(“1/1/1970”, ‘%d/%m/%Y’) so I’m pretty sure I don’t have a syntax error. Thanks for any help. ---
**Author:** ![javamllama](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@javamllama](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/javamllama)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 6:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/datetime-strptime/79301/2 "2006-12-14T06:49:01Z")
Thanks Morton. I did read date/format.rb and in 1.8.4 (what I’m running) it supports the %s format which I believe is supposed to represent the number of seconds since 1/1/1970. The number I’m passing in represents the number of seconds since 1/1/1970. ---
**Author:** ![javamllama](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@javamllama](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/javamllama)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/datetime-strptime/79301/3 "2006-12-14T05:44:52Z")
On Dec 13, 2006, at 7:03 PM, Matt G. wrote: > ArgumentError: 3 elements of civil date are necessary > from lib/ruby/1.8/date.rb:1214:in `new_with_hash' from lib/ruby/1.8/date.rb:1238:in`strptime’ > from (irb):2 > > I was able to make this work: Date::strptime(“1/1/1970”, ‘%d/%m/% > Y’) so I’m > pretty sure I don’t have a syntax error. DateTime.strptime simply can’t handle “1166049481” as an argument. It wants something that looks like a date/time stamp that a human might be able to read. Unfortunately, as you point out, exactly what it wants isn’t documented. You’re expected to read date/format.rb, which IMO isn’t easy decipher. BTW, even if your first argument were acceptable, I think your second would be ignored – at least in 1.8.2, which is what I’m running, %s has no effect. > Thanks for any help. Not much help, I’m afraid, but you did ask for “any help” 🙂 Regards, Morton ---
**Author:** ![javamllama](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@javamllama](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/javamllama)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/datetime-strptime/79301/4 "2006-12-15T03:47:55Z")
On 12/14/06, Matt G. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Thanks Morton. I did read date/format.rb and in 1.8.4 (what I’m running) it > supports the %s format which I believe is supposed to represent the number > of seconds since 1/1/1970. The number I’m passing in represents the number > of seconds since 1/1/1970. It looks like a bug in date/format.rb to me. It also works as you expect in 1.9. Try this patch: — format.rb.orig 2006-12-14 17:48:54.000000000 +1100 +++ format.rb 2006-12-15 13:35:23.000000000 +1100 @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ # format.rb: Written by Tadayoshi F. 1999-2005 # $Id: format.rb,v 2.15 2005-02-06 13:28:48+09 tadf Exp $ +require ‘time’ require ‘rational’ class Date @@ -138,8 +139,14 @@ elem[:sec] = val when ‘%s’ return unless str.sub!(/\A(\d+)/o, ‘’) - ``` val = $1.to_i ``` - ``` elem[:seconds] = val ``` - ``` time = Time.at($1.to_i) ``` - ``` elem[:year] = time.year ``` - ``` elem[:mon] = time.mon ``` - ``` elem[:mday] = time.mday ``` - ``` elem[:hour] = time.hour ``` - ``` elem[:min] = time.min ``` - ``` elem[:sec] = time.sec ``` - ``` elem[:offset] = time.utc_offset when '%T' return unless __strptime(str, '%H:%M:%S', elem) when '%t' ```