# Display formatted date

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/display-formatted-date/63368>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [June 14, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/display-formatted-date/63368 "2006-06-14T16:59:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/learningruby)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/display-formatted-date/63368/1 "2006-06-14T16:59:32Z")

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Hi,  
In my form I have date field set as ‘datetime\_select’ which is fine as I  
wanted it in the same format. But while displaying (list action) it  
displays date in long format i.e. ‘Tue May 30 15:39:00 Central Daylight  
Time 2006’. How can I format it so that it will just be diaplyed as  
‘dd/mm/yyyy’ format?

Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/learningruby)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/display-formatted-date/63368/2 "2006-06-14T22:03:29Z")

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Look at Time#strftime:

[http://corelib.rubyonrails.org/](http://corelib.rubyonrails.org/)

\<%= object.created\_at.strftime(“%d/%m/%Y”) %\>

On 6/14/06, Ruby R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).
> 
> * * *
> 
> Rails mailing list  
> removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
> [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails)

–  
Derek H.  
HighGroove Studios - [http://www.highgroove.com](http://www.highgroove.com)  
San Mateo, CA | Atlanta, GA  
Keeping it Simple.  
650.276.0908

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/learningruby)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/display-formatted-date/63368/3 "2006-06-15T06:54:45Z")

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Alterantively to using strftime every time you want to format a date, ie  
if  
you want this display application wide you can add

ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions::Time::Conversions::DATE\_FORMATS.update(  
:default =\> '%d/%m/%Y @ %H:%M: %p )

ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions:📅:Conversions::DATE\_FORMATS.update(  
:default =\> '%d/%m/%Y )

to the environment.rb

Then you can just put something like  
\<%= object.created\_at.to\_date %\>

and all the formatting is done for you.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/learningruby)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/display-formatted-date/63368/4 "2006-06-15T19:01:38Z")

</div>

Thanks guys I wasn’t aware of this!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/learningruby)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/display-formatted-date/63368/5 "2006-07-13T06:14:04Z")

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On 13 Jul 2006 03:49:36 -0000, Kevin O. \<  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid\> wrote:

> > ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions:📅:Conversions::DATE\_FORMATS.update(
> > 
> > > > In my form I have date field set as ‘datetime\_select’ which is  
> > > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).  
> > > > San Mateo, CA | Atlanta, GA  
> > > > Rails mailing list  
> > > > formatting in the view.
> 
> \_Kevin

Kevin, Thanx for the heads up…

–

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@learningruby](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/learningruby)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/display-formatted-date/63368/6 "2006-07-13T05:49:16Z")

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On Thursday, June 15, 2006, at 2:53 PM, Daniel N wrote:

> > > Time 2006’. How can I format it so that it will just be diaplyed as
> > 
> > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
> > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Rails mailing list  
> removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
> [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails)

I just came across an interesting bug that crops up when you do this.  
On MySQL 5.0.21 if I use this trick, it prevents ‘Date’ fields from  
updating properly. The same may happen with other types, but I haven’t  
tested them.

It is probably safer to leave these settings alone and just force the  
formatting in the view.

\_Kevin