# What's up with Time.local? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 2, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whats-up-with-time-local/84251 "2007-02-02T18:58:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bodikp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whats-up-with-time-local/84251/1 "2007-02-02T18:58:56Z")
I need to check some file dates against the budgetary periods of our company, to determine where those files get placed. I’m playing with the Time.local object. I’ve proven that I can denote which budget period I’m in by using the .between? method. But, I get this weird “octal digit” error with some of my date entries. irb(main):001:0\> t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) SyntaxError: compile error (irb):1: Illegal octal digit t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) ^ (irb):1: Illegal octal digit t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) ^ I don’t get the error when I specify the following date. It doesn’t seem to like the month of September. (-; irb(main):005:0\> t = Time.local(2007,01,01,00,00) =\> Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0500 2007 Thanks, Peter ---
**Author:** ![bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bodikp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whats-up-with-time-local/84251/2 "2007-02-02T19:22:06Z")
On Feb 2, 2007, at 09:58, Peter B. wrote: > (irb):1: Illegal octal digit > t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) > ^ > (irb):1: Illegal octal digit > t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) > ^ > > I don’t get the error when I specify the following date. It doesn’t > seem > to like the month of September. (-; If you put a 0 in front of a number you are specifying an octal number instead of a decimal number. Octal is base 8, so there is no such thing as an octal number including a digit greater than 7: t = Time.local 2007, 011, 011, 00, 00 Instead just use base 10: Time.local 2007, 9, 9, 0, 0 ---
**Author:** ![bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bodikp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whats-up-with-time-local/84251/3 "2007-02-02T19:24:07Z")
On Feb 2, 2007, at 12:58 PM, Peter B. wrote: > (irb):1: Illegal octal digit > irb(main):005:0\> t = Time.local(2007,01,01,00,00) > =\> Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0500 2007 In Ruby starting an integer with a leading zero designates that it is in octal notation. The non-negative octal integers start 00, 01, …, 07, 010, 011, … There is no 09. Bottom line: drop the leading zeros. Regards, Morton ---
**Author:** ![bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bodikp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whats-up-with-time-local/84251/4 "2007-02-02T19:25:08Z")
On Sat, Feb 03, 2007 at 02:58:59AM +0900, Peter B. wrote: > I need to check some file dates against the budgetary periods of our > company, to determine where those files get placed. I’m playing with the > Time.local object. I’ve proven that I can denote which budget period I’m > in by using the .between? method. But, I get this weird “octal digit” > error with some of my date entries. > > irb(main):001:0\> t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) > SyntaxError: compile error > (irb):1: Illegal octal digit > t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) Numeric literals starting with `0' are interpreted as octal numbers. Try dropping the leading`0’'s. > ``` > ^ > > ``` > > (irb):1: Illegal octal digit > t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) > ^ > > I don’t get the error when I specify the following date. It doesn’t seem > to like the month of September. (-; > > irb(main):005:0\> t = Time.local(2007,01,01,00,00) > =\> Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0500 2007 That’s because there is no `9' in the base-8 number system, just like there is no`A’ in the regular base-10 number system (but there is in the base-16 system a.k.a. hexadecimal). Hth, ---
**Author:** ![bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bodikp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whats-up-with-time-local/84251/5 "2007-02-02T19:27:08Z")
On Feb 2, 6:58 pm, Peter B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ``` > ^ > > ``` > > (irb):1: Illegal octal digit > t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) > ^ The problem is the leading zero. Time.local(2007, 9, 9, 0, 0) works fine. Number literals with a zero at the beginning are interpreted as octal numbers. Since octal numbers only use digits 0…7, 9 is rejected (as would be 8). HTH, AdSR ---
**Author:** ![bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bodikp](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bodikp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whats-up-with-time-local/84251/6 "2007-02-02T20:46:53Z")
AdSR wrote: > On Feb 2, 6:58 pm, Peter B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > ``` > > ^ > > > > ``` > > > > (irb):1: Illegal octal digit > > t = Time.local(2007,09,09,00,00) > > ^ > > The problem is the leading zero. Time.local(2007, 9, 9, 0, 0) works > fine. > > Number literals with a zero at the beginning are interpreted as octal > numbers. Since octal numbers only use digits 0…7, 9 is rejected (as > would be 8). > > HTH, > AdSR You’re all brilliant. Thanks. Yes, when I re-looked into my book that was guiding me with this, I see that all of their sample don’t have a leading zero. -Peter