Convert string format

Hello
I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
2007/08/01 using regex
thanks

Junkone wrote:

Hello
I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
2007/08/01 using regex
thanks

irb(main):001:0> x = '20070801'
=> "20070801"
irb(main):005:0> d = /(\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})/.match x
=> #<MatchData:0x56520c>
irb(main):006:0> d[1..3]
=> ["2007", "08", "01"]
irb(main):007:0> d[1..3].join("/")
=> "2007/08/01"

···

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A solution with unpack:

   irb(main):003:0> "20070801".unpack("a4a2a2").join("/")
   => "2007/08/01"

-- fxn

···

On Oct 28, 2007, at 1:15 AM, Junkone wrote:

Hello
I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
2007/08/01 using regex

irb(main):008:0> '20070801'.sub( /(\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})/ ) { [ $1, $2,
$3 ].join( '/' ) }
=> "2007/08/01"

OR:

irb(main):010:0> '20070801'.sub( /(\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})/, '\1/\2/\3')
=> "2007/08/01"

-Tom

···

On 10/28/07, Junkone <junkone1@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello
I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
2007/08/01 using regex
thanks

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to use regular expressions to
solve this? Don't you just want to insert two '/' characters in the
appropriate place?

"20070801".insert(4,'/').insert(7,'/')

···

On Oct 27, 7:10 pm, Junkone <junko...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello
I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
2007/08/01 using regex
thanks

using regexen for that's suicide unless you want to accept invalid time strings. use the functionality already provided by ruby:

cfp:~ > cat a.rb
require 'time'

puts Time.parse('20070801').strftime('%Y/%m/%d')

puts Time.parse('20070842').strftime('%Y/%m/%d') rescue puts $!.message

cfp:~ > ruby a.rb
2007/08/01
argument out of range

kind regards.

a @ http://codeforpeople.com/

···

On Oct 27, 2007, at 5:15 PM, Junkone wrote:

Hello
I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
2007/08/01 using regex
thanks

--
share your knowledge. it's a way to achieve immortality.
h.h. the 14th dalai lama

Hi --

Hello
I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
2007/08/01 using regex

A solution with unpack:

irb(main):003:0> "20070801".unpack("a4a2a2").join("/")
=> "2007/08/01"

And here's one with scanf:

   >> "20070801".scanf("%4s%2s%2s").join('/')
   => "2007/08/01"

David

···

On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Xavier Noria wrote:

On Oct 28, 2007, at 1:15 AM, Junkone wrote:

--
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   * Advancing With Rails, Edison, NJ, November 6-9
   * Advancing With Rails, Berlin, Germany, November 19-22
   * Intro to Rails, London, UK, December 3-6 (by Skills Matter)
See http://www.rubypal.com for details!

Brian Adkins wrote:

···

On Oct 27, 7:10 pm, Junkone <junko...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello
I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
2007/08/01 using regex
thanks

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to use regular expressions to
solve this? Don't you just want to insert two '/' characters in the
appropriate place?

"20070801".insert(4,'/').insert(7,'/')

Ack. I forgot to time that one....and we have a winner. Nice.

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

Good point, but with a format like "20070801", there's a good chance
this is not user input, but serialized data that's already been parsed/
validated and just needs to be formatted.

···

On Oct 28, 12:12 am, "ara.t.howard" <ara.t.how...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Oct 27, 2007, at 5:15 PM, Junkone wrote:

> Hello
> I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
> 2007/08/01 using regex
> thanks

using regexen for that's suicide unless you want to accept invalid
time strings.

Yeah, but scanf is implemented in Ruby, so it's 25 times slower (at
least by a crude, quick benchmark) than unpack or insert :frowning:

···

On Oct 27, 10:09 pm, "David A. Black" <dbl...@rubypal.com> wrote:

Hi --

On Sun, 28 Oct 2007, Xavier Noria wrote:
> On Oct 28, 2007, at 1:15 AM, Junkone wrote:

>> Hello
>> I have a date like 20070801 in a string. how do i change it to
>> 2007/08/01 using regex

> A solution with unpack:

> irb(main):003:0> "20070801".unpack("a4a2a2").join("/")
> => "2007/08/01"

And here's one with scanf:

   >> "20070801".scanf("%4s%2s%2s").join('/')
   => "2007/08/01"

could be. still, c programs are notorious for using crappy methods of string/date generation and dumping out bad dates - we had one system that crashed for years every newyear's eve for years until i got around to hacking a wrapper on it... give you one guess why :wink:

a @ http://codeforpeople.com/

···

On Oct 28, 2007, at 12:00 AM, Brian Adkins wrote:

Good point, but with a format like "20070801", there's a good chance
this is not user input, but serialized data that's already been parsed/
validated and just needs to be formatted.

--
it is not enough to be compassionate. you must act.
h.h. the 14th dalai lama

Brian Adkins wrote:

···

On Oct 27, 10:09 pm, "David A. Black" <dbl...@rubypal.com> wrote:

> irb(main):003:0> "20070801".unpack("a4a2a2").join("/")
> => "2007/08/01"

And here's one with scanf:

   >> "20070801".scanf("%4s%2s%2s").join('/')
   => "2007/08/01"

Yeah, but scanf is implemented in Ruby, so it's 25 times slower (at
least by a crude, quick benchmark) than unpack or insert :frowning:

I was going to post that same solution, but after timing it, I almost
gagged when I saw the results.

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

Brian Adkins wrote:

Yeah, but scanf is implemented in Ruby, so it's 25 times slower (at
least by a crude, quick benchmark) than unpack or insert :frowning:

This one is super speedy:

str = '20070801'
new_str = sprintf("%4s/%2s/%2s", str, str, str)

On my system sprintf() is twice as fast as unpack(), which is twice as
fast as match().

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

ara.t.howard wrote:

Good point, but with a format like "20070801", there's a good chance
this is not user input, but serialized data that's already been parsed/
validated and just needs to be formatted.

could be. still, c programs are notorious for using crappy methods of string/date generation and dumping out bad dates - we had one system that crashed for years every newyear's eve for years until i got around to hacking a wrapper on it... give you one guess why :wink:

a @ http://codeforpeople.com/
--
it is not enough to be compassionate. you must act.
h.h. the 14th dalai lama

You had to work on New Years' Eve? Bummer ...

···

On Oct 28, 2007, at 12:00 AM, Brian Adkins wrote:

Yes, but fast and incorrect is a bad combination. :slight_smile:

···

On Oct 27, 11:21 pm, 7stud -- <bbxx789_0...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Brian Adkins wrote:

> Yeah, but scanf is implemented in Ruby, so it's 25 times slower (at
> least by a crude, quick benchmark) than unpack or insert :frowning:

This one is super speedy:

str = '20070801'
new_str = sprintf("%4s/%2s/%2s", str, str, str)

On my system sprintf() is twice as fast as unpack(), which is twice as
fast as match().

hey! it worked for fortran! :wink:

a @ http://codeforpeople.com/

···

On Oct 27, 2007, at 11:55 PM, Brian Adkins wrote:

Yes, but fast and incorrect is a bad combination. :slight_smile:

--
share your knowledge. it's a way to achieve immortality.
h.h. the 14th dalai lama

Brian Adkins wrote:

···

On Oct 27, 11:21 pm, 7stud -- <bbxx789_0...@yahoo.com> wrote:

On my system sprintf() is twice as fast as unpack(), which is twice as
fast as match().

Yes, but fast and incorrect is a bad combination. :slight_smile:

No wonder it was so much faster than this one:

str = '20070801'
new_str = sprintf("%s/%s/%s", str[0..3], str[4..5], str[6..7])

:frowning:
:frowning:
:frowning:
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

7stud -- wrote:

Brian Adkins wrote:

On my system sprintf() is twice as fast as unpack(), which is twice as
fast as match().

Yes, but fast and incorrect is a bad combination. :slight_smile:

No wonder it was so much faster than this one:

str = '20070801'
new_str = sprintf("%s/%s/%s", str[0..3], str[4..5], str[6..7])

:frowning:
:frowning:
:frowning:

Well, use sprintf("%s/%s/%s", str[0,4], str[4,2], str[6,2]) then, it's
still a lot faster than the other solutions.

Regards
Stefan

···

On Oct 27, 11:21 pm, 7stud -- <bbxx789_0...@yahoo.com> wrote:

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.