# Formatting dates and times

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-dates-and-times/54767>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 14, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-dates-and-times/54767 "2006-03-14T01:30:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ce7236/32.png) [@rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rtilley)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-dates-and-times/54767/1 "2006-03-14T01:30:44Z")

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In Python, I do this to format date and time in a certain fashion.

q = time.strftime(’%Y-%m-%d’, time.localtime())  
r = time.strftime(’%H:%M:%S’, time.localtime())

I am formatting by YYYY-MM-DD and HH:MM:SS (I keep dashes between the  
YYYY MM DD and colons between HH MM SS.

How is this done in Ruby?

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**Author:** ![rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ce7236/32.png) [@rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rtilley)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-dates-and-times/54767/2 "2006-03-14T01:33:59Z")

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Time.now.strftime(’%Y-%m-%d’)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ce7236/32.png) [@rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rtilley)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-dates-and-times/54767/3 "2006-03-14T01:40:15Z")

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On Mar 14, 2006, at 1:28 AM, rtilley wrote:

> In Python, I do this to format date and time in a certain fashion.
> 
> q = time.strftime(’%Y-%m-%d’, time.localtime())  
> r = time.strftime(’%H:%M:%S’, time.localtime())
> 
> I am formatting by YYYY-MM-DD and HH:MM:SS (I keep dashes between  
> the YYYY MM DD and colons between HH MM SS.
> 
> How is this done in Ruby?

See Time#strftime:

Time.new.strftime(’%Y-%m-%d’) -\> “2006-03-14”

– Daniel

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ce7236/32.png) [@rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rtilley)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-dates-and-times/54767/4 "2006-03-14T01:40:15Z")

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removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote:

> Time.now.strftime(’%Y-%m-%d’)

Thanks… I came across the answer soon after posting. I should research  
more before posting!

Thanks again,  
Brad

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ce7236/32.png) [@rtilley](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rtilley)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/formatting-dates-and-times/54767/5 "2006-03-14T02:04:50Z")

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rtilley wrote:

> In Python, I do this to format date and time in a certain fashion.
> 
> q = time.strftime(’%Y-%m-%d’, time.localtime())  
> r = time.strftime(’%H:%M:%S’, time.localtime())
> 
> I am formatting by YYYY-MM-DD and HH:MM:SS (I keep dashes between the  
> YYYY MM DD and colons between HH MM SS.
> 
> How is this done in Ruby?

ri Time#strftime