# Is this an executable code? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [October 16, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572 "2010-10-16T08:23:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dobai-Pataky\_BSSSSl](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/77aa72/32.png) [@Dobai-Pataky\_BSSSSl](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Dobai-Pataky_BSSSSl)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/1 "2010-10-16T08:23:16Z")
Time.local(year, month, day, hour, min, sec, msec) I typed this in IRB and it was “undefined local variable or method ‘year’…” Is ‘local’ a method for the Time class? Thanks guys ---
**Author:** ![marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/marlon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 8:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/2 "2010-10-16T08:29:48Z")
Hi, local is a valid method for the Time class, you can check for that if wish to using this : Time.respond\_to?(:local) The problem here is that in your call to local, you have passed in 7 arguments, from the error it is clear that you haven’t defined the variables year, month, day…etc before making this call. Check the values you are passing to the function call. – Thanks & Regards, Dhruva S… ---
**Author:** ![marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/marlon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 10:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/3 "2010-10-16T10:11:04Z")
I think I get it now. I typed Time.local(2010,10,16,15,50,33) and IRB returned with values of year, month, day, hour, min, and sec in that order, with the values of the arguments passed to ‘local’. But the code sample from the book I’m reading has the msec argument. Time.local(year, month, day, hour, min, sec, msec) I added another argument for the msec position but IRB returned with the same result as the previous, as if I didn’t add the msec argument in there. Why is that? Sorry, beginner here and no background in programming whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/marlon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/4 "2010-10-16T10:40:40Z")
The book I’m reading IS for beginners, and it’s really good, I’m just a slow learner. Anyway, you didn’t answer my question about the msec argument. It makes no difference in my IRB if I typed the msec argument or not. =) ---
**Author:** ![marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/marlon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 10:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/5 "2010-10-16T10:34:02Z")
Hi, well that is the syntax for using the method ‘local’. The syntax mentioned in the book is showing you how to use the method and what the arguments you are supposed to pass to it in order to achieve what you have to. In place of the arguments you have to put in real values when you are actually using the method. You could assign those values to variables and then pass those variables to the method. When you just type that in IRB, when it interprets the call, it tries to resolve the values like ‘year’, ‘month’ etc. Since they have not been defined, it outputs the error that the local variable hasn’t been defined. in IRB if you did : irb\> year = ‘2009’ irb\> month = ‘01’ . . . irb\> Time.local(year, month…) then it will work as you’d expect it to again. PS : If you do not have programming background, I suggest you go through a book targetting beginners like yourself and get a hold of the basics of ruby programming. – Thanks & Regards, Dhruva S… ---
**Author:** ![marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/marlon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/6 "2010-10-16T13:28:43Z")
Thank you guys. ---
**Author:** ![marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/marlon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 10:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/7 "2010-10-16T10:55:26Z")
On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Kaye Ng [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Anyway, you didn’t answer my question about the msec > argument. It makes no difference in my IRB if I typed the msec argument > or not. It does make a difference, but the output does not show it. Try this in irb: > > t = Time.local 2010, 1, 1, 12, 30, 0, 444 > > =\> 2010-01-01 12:30:00 +0200 > > t.usec > > =\> 444 Regards, Ammar ---
**Author:** ![marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/marlon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/8 "2010-10-16T13:40:27Z")
One more thing. I typed this in IRB: epoch\_time = Time.gm(2007, 5).to\_i t = Time.at(epoch\_time) The second code returned: 2007-05-01 08:00:00 +0800 Can anybody tell me why the “hour” value is 8? I thought the default value for “hour” would be zeroes, as in this code: Time.local(2010) =\> 2010-01-01 00:00:00 +0800 Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@marlon](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/marlon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/is-this-an-executable-code/197572/9 "2010-10-16T13:54:34Z")
On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 2:40 PM, Kaye Ng [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I thought the default value for “hour” would be zeroes, as in this code: > Time.local(2010) > =\> 2010-01-01 00:00:00 +0800 The +0800 at the end of the output is a good clue. Time.at interprets the given seconds as local time, and you are 8 hours ahead of GMT. Regards, Ammar