Ruby: convert string to date

Question

In Ruby, what's the best way to convert a string of the format: "{ 2009, 4, 15 }" to a Date?

Answer 1

Best I could do was:

Date.new(*"{ 2009, 04, 15 }".delete('{').chop.split(",").map(&:to_i))

Is there a more elegant way?

Answer 2

Another way:

s = "{ 2009, 4, 15 }"
d = Date.parse( s.gsub(/, */, '-') )

Answer 3

You could also use Date.strptime:

Date.strptime("{ 2009, 4, 15 }", "{ %Y, %m, %d }")

Answer 4

def parse_date(date)
  Date.parse date.gsub(/[{}\s]/, "").gsub(",", ".")
end

date = parse_date("{ 2009, 4, 15 }")
date.day
#=> 15
date.month
#=> 4
date.year
#=> 2009