# File renaming/parsing help **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [2 December 2007 08:44 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-renaming-parsing-help/42670 "2007-12-02T08:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike\_M2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc79bd/32.png) [@Mike\_M2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mike_M2)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2007 08:44 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-renaming-parsing-help/42670/1 "2007-12-02T08:44:56Z")
First of all let me say that I am an absolute newb when it comes to rails. I am simply trying to work on an existing script that was written by someone else. I need to take a filename that will always have a similar name and turn it into an rfc2822 compliant line for an xml file. Here is what I have so far but I am absolutely lost as you can see. sad The filenames will always be the same, e.g. November 15,2007.mp3 or September 7,2008.mp3, etc. One thing I am concerned about is the day since sometimes it will be a single digit and sometimes a double digit, although I am sure their is a way around that too. I would love if someone could shed some light on this for me. I might even learn something in the process. smile #The goal is turn "November 15,2007.mp3" into "Wed, 15 Nov 2007 19:00:00 GMT" > **···** > > # > #So far the output below gives me Wed, Nov15 > > filename = "November 15, 2007.mp3" > puts "Wed, " + ( filename[0,3]) + ( filename[-12,2]) > -- > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Todd\_Benson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@Todd\_Benson](https://rubytalk.org/u/Todd_Benson)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2007 10:52 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-renaming-parsing-help/42670/2 "2007-12-02T10:52:31Z")
You could make your life easy by using a Date object and the #parse method... str = "November 15, 2007.mp3" date\_str = str.split('.')[0] d = Date.parse(date\_str) ##### parse it puts d.strftime "%a, %e %b %Y.mp3" ##### output it the way you want You can add other formats too (see #strftime and look at the source) Todd > **···** > > On Dec 2, 2007 2:44 AM, Mike Mr. \ wrote: > > > First of all let me say that I am an absolute newb when it comes to > > rails. I am simply trying to work on an existing script that was > > written by someone else. > > > > I need to take a filename that will always have a similar name and turn > > it into an rfc2822 compliant line for an xml file. Here is what I have > > so far but I am absolutely lost as you can see. sad > > > > The filenames will always be the same, e.g. November 15,2007.mp3 or > > September 7,2008.mp3, etc. One thing I am concerned about is the day > > since sometimes it will be a single digit and sometimes a double digit, > > although I am sure their is a way around that too. > > > > I would love if someone could shed some light on this for me. I might > > even learn something in the process. smile > > > > #The goal is turn "November 15,2007.mp3" into "Wed, 15 Nov 2007 19:00:00 > > GMT" > > # > > #So far the output below gives me Wed, Nov15 > > > > filename = "November 15, 2007.mp3" > > puts "Wed, " + ( filename[0,3]) + ( filename[-12,2]) ---
**Author:** ![Axel\_Etzold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@Axel\_Etzold](https://rubytalk.org/u/Axel_Etzold)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2007 11:13 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-renaming-parsing-help/42670/3 "2007-12-02T11:13:39Z")
-------- Original-Nachricht -------- > Datum: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 17:44:56 +0900 > Von: "Mike Mr." \ > An: ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org > Betreff: file renaming/parsing help > First of all let me say that I am an absolute newb when it comes to > rails. I am simply trying to work on an existing script that was > written by someone else. > > I need to take a filename that will always have a similar name and turn > it into an rfc2822 compliant line for an xml file. Here is what I have > so far but I am absolutely lost as you can see. sad > > The filenames will always be the same, e.g. November 15,2007.mp3 or > September 7,2008.mp3, etc. One thing I am concerned about is the day > since sometimes it will be a single digit and sometimes a double digit, > although I am sure their is a way around that too. > > I would love if someone could shed some light on this for me. I might > even learn something in the process. smile > > #The goal is turn "November 15,2007.mp3" into "Wed, 15 Nov 2007 19:00:00 > GMT" > # > #So far the output below gives me Wed, Nov15 > > filename = "November 15, 2007.mp3" > puts "Wed, " + ( filename[0,3]) + ( filename[-12,2]) > -- > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C). Dear Mike, here's some code using regexps .. that avoids knowing the exact indices where your one-digit or two-digit day information is. To get the day of week, you can use the time class of Ruby. ([class Time - RDoc Documentation](http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Time.html#M000261%5C)) Best regards, Axel > **···** > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > require "time" > > mp\_files=["November 15, 2007.mp3"] > result= > month=["January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"] > year=/(1|2)[0-9]{3}/ # year must start in 1 or in 2 and have 4 digits > day=/[0-9]{1,2}/ > > file\_month='' > file\_year='' > file\_day='' > mp\_files.each{|file\_name| >   file\_name.sub!(/\.[^\.]\*$/,'') # chop off endings >   month.each{|m| if file\_name.index(m)!=nil; file\_month=m; break; end} >   if file\_month=='' >     raise "No month given for file : " + file\_name >   end >   ref\_year=year.match(file\_name) >   if ref\_year!=nil >     file\_year=ref\_year[0] >   else >     raise "No year given for file : " + file\_name >   end >   file\_name.sub!(ref\_year[0],'') # remove year, so that doesn't interfere with search for file\_name's day >   ref\_day=day.match(file\_name) >   if ref\_day!=nil >     file\_day=ref\_day[0] >   else >     raise "No day given for file : " + file\_name >   end >   # get day of week >   dow=Time.parse([file\_month,file\_day,file\_year].join(' ')).wday >   result\<\ } >    > p 'result' > p result > > -- > Ist Ihr Browser Vista-kompatibel? Jetzt die neuesten > Browser-Versionen downloaden: [GMX Browser - verwenden Sie immer einen aktuellen Browser. Kostenloser Download.](http://www.gmx.net/de/go/browser) ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Woodward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mark\_Woodward](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mark_Woodward)\ **Post date:** [2 December 2007 23:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-renaming-parsing-help/42670/4 "2007-12-02T23:20:01Z")
Hi, > First of all let me say that I am an absolute newb when it comes to > rails. I am simply trying to work on an existing script that was > written by someone else. > > I need to take a filename that will always have a similar name and turn > it into an rfc2822 compliant line for an xml file. Here is what I have > so far but I am absolutely lost as you can see. sad > > The filenames will always be the same, e.g. November 15,2007.mp3 or > September 7,2008.mp3, etc. One thing I am concerned about is the day > since sometimes it will be a single digit and sometimes a double digit, > although I am sure their is a way around that too. > > I would love if someone could shed some light on this for me. I might > even learn something in the process. smile > > #The goal is turn "November 15,2007.mp3" into "Wed, 15 Nov 2007 19:00:00 > GMT" > # > #So far the output below gives me Wed, Nov15 > > filename = "November 15, 2007.mp3" > puts "Wed, " + ( filename[0,3]) + ( filename[-12,2]) > -- > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. not exactly what you're after (not sure how you intend to generate times?) but might help. require 'date' require 'time' str = "November 15, 2007.mp3" #str\_sans\_ext = str.split('.')[0] # or, str\_sans\_ext = str.gsub(/\.mp3/,'') new\_date = Time.parse(str\_sans\_ext) puts new\_date puts new\_date.httpdate cheers, > **···** > > On Dec 2, 7:44 pm, "Mike Mr." \ wrote: > > -- > Mark ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_M2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc79bd/32.png) [@Mike\_M2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mike_M2)\ **Post date:** [3 December 2007 21:03 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/file-renaming-parsing-help/42670/5 "2007-12-03T21:03:00Z")
Todd Benson wrote: > **···** > > > On Dec 2, 2007 2:44 AM, Mike Mr. \ wrote: > > > > > since sometimes it will be a single digit and sometimes a double digit, > > > > > > filename = "November 15, 2007.mp3" > > > puts "Wed, " + ( filename[0,3]) + ( filename[-12,2]) > > > > You could make your life easy by using a Date object and the #parse > > method... > > > > str = "November 15, 2007.mp3" > > date\_str = str.split('.')[0] > > d = Date.parse(date\_str) ##### parse it > > puts d.strftime "%a, %e %b %Y.mp3" ##### output it the way you want > > > > You can add other formats too (see #strftime and look at the source) > > Todd > > Thank you so much Todd. I integrated your code successfully and it > works great. Kudos to all of you who lent me a hand. > > Warm regards, > > Mike > > -- > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C).