# Format natural date **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [10 May 2008 11:03 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/format-natural-date/46423 "2008-05-10T11:03:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Butler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c4cdca/32.png) [@John\_Butler](https://rubytalk.org/u/John_Butler)\ **Post date:** [10 May 2008 11:03 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/format-natural-date/46423/1 "2008-05-10T11:03:18Z")
Is there a way to format a natural date like May 7, 2008 to 07/05/2008. Ive tried Date.strptime("May 7, 2008", '%d/%m/%Y') without success? Is it possible to this in a one line with ruby? JB > **路路路** > > -- > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_K1](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/rubytalk.org/robert_k1/32/1830_2.png) [@Robert\_K1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Robert_K1)\ **Post date:** [10 May 2008 12:40 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/format-natural-date/46423/2 "2008-05-10T12:40:02Z")
> Is there a way to format a natural date like May 7, 2008 to 07/05/2008. > Ive tried > Date.strptime("May 7, 2008", '%d/%m/%Y') without success? You seem to want to \_reformat\_ a date string. But the code you show just \_parses\_ a string into a Date. If you want to reformat your string you first need to parse it and then format it. > Is it possible to this in a one line with ruby? Yes. You're almost there but you need to format your format string so it matches the date strings that you are trying to parse. Since there is nowhere a slash in your date string it comes as no surprise that the format does not match. 馃檪 Kind regards   robert > **路路路** > > On 10.05.2008 13:03, John Butler wrote: ---
**Author:** ![Todd\_Benson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@Todd\_Benson](https://rubytalk.org/u/Todd_Benson)\ **Post date:** [10 May 2008 12:44 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/format-natural-date/46423/3 "2008-05-10T12:44:31Z")
Yes, but I don't know why you would want to. #strptime builds a Date object from your string with your format. Then, you must format it. If you don't need the Date object, I would just perform the magic on the string itself. Matching month abbreviations to month numbers can be done with Date::ABBR\_MONTHNAMES. hth, Todd > **路路路** > > On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 6:03 AM, John Butler \ wrote: > > > Is there a way to format a natural date like May 7, 2008 to 07/05/2008. > > Ive tried > > Date.strptime("May 7, 2008", '%d/%m/%Y') without success? > > > > Is it possible to this in a one line with ruby? > > > > JB ---
**Author:** ![John\_Butler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c4cdca/32.png) [@John\_Butler](https://rubytalk.org/u/John_Butler)\ **Post date:** [10 May 2008 12:54 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/format-natural-date/46423/4 "2008-05-10T12:54:12Z")
Todd Benson wrote: > **路路路** > > > On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 6:03 AM, John Butler \ \> wrote: > > > > > Is there a way to format a natural date like May 7, 2008 to 07/05/2008. > > > Ive tried > > > Date.strptime("May 7, 2008", '%d/%m/%Y') without success? > > > > > > Is it possible to this in a one line with ruby? > > > > > > JB > > > > Yes, but I don't know why you would want to. > > > > #strptime builds a Date object from your string with your format. > > Then, you must format it. > > > > If you don't need the Date object, I would just perform the magic on > > the string itself. Matching month abbreviations to month numbers can > > be done with Date::ABBR\_MONTHNAMES. > > > > hth, > > > > Todd > > Ok i see, i didnt explain myself properly, i wanted to turn "May 23, > 2008" into a date and then output it as 23/05/2008" > > Below works fine. > > Date.strptime("May 23, 2008", '%B %d, %Y').strftime("%d/%m/%Y") > -- > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C).