File.(filename).mtime the same output format like Date.today (ruby)

Question

I want to subtract the result of File.mtime and Date.today. Time and weekends are ignored. I am after something like

Date.today - File.mtime

File.mtime gives me Fri Oct 08 11:00:18 +1100 2010 and Date.today 2010-10-11

I thought that to_s() would work for me but File.mtime(filename).to_s gives me the same result like File.mtime(filename)

any idea how I can get the desired date format from File.mtime? And why to_s is not working?

Answer 1

Something like this?

irb(main):001:0> File.mtime("file")
=> 2010-10-08 17:56:10 +0800
irb(main):002:0> File.mtime("file").year
=> 2010
irb(main):003:0> File.mtime("file").month
=> 10
irb(main):004:0> File.mtime("file").day
=> 8

Similarly with Date

irb(main):001:0> require 'date'         
=> true                                 
irb(main):002:0> Date.today         
=> #<Date: 2010-10-11 (4910961/2,0,2299161)>
irb(main):003:0> Date.today.year            
=> 2010                                     
irb(main):004:0> Date.today.month
=> 10                            
irb(main):005:0> Date.today.day
=> 11     

Or you can use strftime

irb(main):001:0> File.mtime("file").strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
=> "2010-10-08"

Answer 2

Try using Time.now and convert to days manually:

age = Time.now - File.mtime(filename)
age_in_days = (age / 24*60*60).to_i