# Regular Expressions **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 24, 2010, 11:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051 "2010-02-24T11:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051/1 "2010-02-24T11:00:52Z")
> validates\_format\_of :closing\_date, :with =\> /^\d\d-\d\d-\d\d\d\d$/, :message =\> “is not correct format” Does this seem correct or is there a better way to do this? Basically, I have a closing\_date column in my database which is set as a date field. On the front end form, I’ve used a text box for the user to enter the date. I’ve entered the data exactly as the regular expression above dictates but I can’t seem to make it pass that instance method 😕 Please help. ---
**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051/2 "2010-02-24T11:06:00Z")
On Feb 24, 10:00 am, Pale H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > validates\_format\_of :closing\_date, :with =\> /^\d\d-\d\d-\d\d\d\d$/, :message =\> “is not correct format” > > Does this seem correct or is there a better way to do this? Basically, I > have a closing\_date column in my database which is set as a date field. > On the front end form, I’ve used a text box for the user to enter the > date. I’ve entered the data exactly as the regular expression above > dictates but I can’t seem to make it pass that instance method 😕 by the time rails validates the record it has already turned it into a date. Fred ---
**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051/3 "2010-02-24T11:18:54Z")
On 24 February 2010 10:07, Pale H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Frederick C. wrote: > > > by the time rails validates the record it has already turned it into a > > date. > Thanks for your swift response. What exactly does this mean for my > validation, though? validates\_presence\_of would probably suffice. If the user entered an non-parseable value, the closing\_date field will be nil. try it and see 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051/4 "2010-02-24T11:07:59Z")
Frederick C. wrote: > by the time rails validates the record it has already turned it into a > date. > > Fred Thanks for your swift response. What exactly does this mean for my validation, though? ---
**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051/5 "2010-02-24T11:21:46Z")
Michael P. wrote: > On 24 February 2010 10:07, Pale H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > Frederick C. wrote: > > > > > by the time rails validates the record it has already turned it into a > > > date. > > > Thanks for your swift response. What exactly does this mean for my > > validation, though? > > validates\_presence\_of would probably suffice. If the user entered an > non-parseable value, the closing\_date field will be nil. > > try it and see 🙂 I just fail to see why my method wouldn’t work, but I will try - thank you. ---
**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051/6 "2010-02-24T11:24:45Z")
validate :method\_for\_date def method\_for\_date yours code format specifications end try something like this may be help full ---
**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051/7 "2010-02-24T11:37:43Z")
On 24 February 2010 10:21, Pale H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Michael P. wrote: > > > try it and see 🙂 > > I just fail to see why my method wouldn’t work, but I will try - thank > you. You’re doing a regex evaluation on a Date (or DateTime) object… so it fails. Try these in IRB: > > Date.today =~ /10/ > > Date.today.to\_s =~ /10/ By definition, the format of the Date converted to a string is defined by the to\_s method, so it’s a tautology to change it to a string and check its format! By all means check that it’s in the future or past, or within whatever range you want… but it’s a DATE - so do date operations on it, not string operations. If you want to check what the user _typed_ you need to get to the controller and do some validation on params[:closing\_date] (or pass that value into an attr\_writer in your model, and do model validations on that parameter…) ---
**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/regular-expressions/184051/8 "2010-02-24T11:29:03Z")
Pale H. wrote: > Michael P. wrote: > > > On 24 February 2010 10:07, Pale H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > > Frederick C. wrote: > > > > > > > by the time rails validates the record it has already turned it into a > > > > date. > > > > > Thanks for your swift response. What exactly does this mean for my > > > validation, though? > > > > validates\_presence\_of would probably suffice. If the user entered an > > non-parseable value, the closing\_date field will be nil. > > > > try it and see 🙂 > > I just fail to see why my method wouldn’t work, but I will try - thank > you. Sorry, I misread this. I do not want to check for the presence of the closing date, I just want to check the format of it against this: “30-02-2010”.