# Parsing dates

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parsing-dates/176140>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [September 25, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parsing-dates/176140 "2009-09-25T06:31:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rgreen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@rgreen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rgreen)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parsing-dates/176140/1 "2009-09-25T06:31:44Z")

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When I do this:

dob=“05/01/1968”  
x=Date.parse(dob)  
x.month

I get 1 instead of 5.  
How do I do this?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rgreen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@rgreen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rgreen)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 7:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parsing-dates/176140/2 "2009-09-25T07:39:03Z")

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> When I do this:
> 
> dob=“05/01/1968”  
> x=Date.parse(dob)  
> x.month
> 
> I get 1 instead of 5.  
> How do I do this?

Well, it’s not a bug or something. The rest of the world uses  
day/month/year so that is the default that the Date.parse method uses.

The easiest solution (and the best way to do this IMO) is to just feed  
the method “01/05/1968” instead of “05/01/1968”.

If for some reason, you HAVE to have the m/d/y format, you could just  
use a regexp. Could be something like this, but note, it’s not really  
the best regexp, just something I came up with now (you can use  
[rubular.com](http://rubular.com) to figure out ruby regexps easily):

dob = “05/01/1968”  
dob =~([01]\d)/([0-3]\d)/((19|20)\d\d)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rgreen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@rgreen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rgreen)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parsing-dates/176140/3 "2009-09-25T14:30:02Z")

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On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 1:38 AM, Ehsanul H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrot\>

> Well, it’s not a bug or something. The rest of the world uses day/month/year so that is the default that the Date.parse method uses.
> 
> The easiest solution (and the best way to do this IMO) is to just feed the method “01/05/1968” instead of “05/01/1968”.
> 
> If for some reason, you HAVE to have the m/d/y format, you could just use a regexp. Could be something like this, but note, it’s not really the best regexp, just something I came up with now (you can use [rubular.com](http://rubular.com) to figure out ruby regexps easily):
> 
> dob = “05/01/1968”  
> dob =~([01]\d)/([0-3]\d)/((19|20)\d\d)

Or better, IMHO, use strptime

require ‘date’  
d = Date.strptime(“05/01/1968”, “%m/%d/%Y”)

d.month #=\> 5  
d.day #=\> 1  
d.year #=\> 1968

Works for DateTime as well as Date

–  
Rick DeNatale

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