Class

A Time object represents a date and time:

Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600

Although its value can be expressed as a single numeric (see Epoch Seconds below), it can be convenient to deal with the value by parts:

t = Time.new(-2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0.0)
# => -2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
t.year # => -2000
t.month # => 1
t.mday # => 1
t.hour # => 0
t.min # => 0
t.sec # => 0
t.subsec # => 0

t = Time.new(2000, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59.5)
# => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 -0600
t.year # => 2000
t.month # => 12
t.mday # => 31
t.hour # => 23
t.min # => 59
t.sec # => 59
t.subsec # => (1/2)

Epoch Seconds

Epoch seconds is the exact number of seconds (including fractional subseconds) since the Unix Epoch, January 1, 1970.

You can retrieve that value exactly using method Time.to_r:

Time.at(0).to_r        # => (0/1)
Time.at(0.999999).to_r # => (9007190247541737/9007199254740992)

Other retrieval methods such as Time#to_i and Time#to_f may return a value that rounds or truncates subseconds.

Time Resolution

A Time object derived from the system clock (for example, by method Time.now) has the resolution supported by the system.

Examples

All of these examples were done using the EST timezone which is GMT-5.

Creating a New Time Instance

You can create a new instance of Time with Time.new. This will use the current system time. Time.now is an alias for this. You can also pass parts of the time to Time.new such as year, month, minute, etc. When you want to construct a time this way you must pass at least a year. If you pass the year with nothing else time will default to January 1 of that year at 00:00:00 with the current system timezone. Here are some examples:

Time.new(2002)         #=> 2002-01-01 00:00:00 -0500
Time.new(2002, 10)     #=> 2002-10-01 00:00:00 -0500
Time.new(2002, 10, 31) #=> 2002-10-31 00:00:00 -0500

You can pass a UTC offset:

Time.new(2002, 10, 31, 2, 2, 2, "+02:00") #=> 2002-10-31 02:02:02 +0200

Or a timezone object:

zone = timezone("Europe/Athens")      # Eastern European Time, UTC+2
Time.new(2002, 10, 31, 2, 2, 2, zone) #=> 2002-10-31 02:02:02 +0200

You can also use Time.local and Time.utc to infer local and UTC timezones instead of using the current system setting.

You can also create a new time using Time.at which takes the number of seconds (with subsecond) since the Unix Epoch.

Time.at(628232400) #=> 1989-11-28 00:00:00 -0500

Working with an Instance of Time

Once you have an instance of Time there is a multitude of things you can do with it. Below are some examples. For all of the following examples, we will work on the assumption that you have done the following:

t = Time.new(1993, 02, 24, 12, 0, 0, "+09:00")

Was that a monday?

t.monday? #=> false

What year was that again?

t.year #=> 1993

Was it daylight savings at the time?

t.dst? #=> false

What’s the day a year later?

t + (60*60*24*365) #=> 1994-02-24 12:00:00 +0900

How many seconds was that since the Unix Epoch?

t.to_i #=> 730522800

You can also do standard functions like compare two times.

t1 = Time.new(2010)
t2 = Time.new(2011)

t1 == t2 #=> false
t1 == t1 #=> true
t1 <  t2 #=> true
t1 >  t2 #=> false

Time.new(2010,10,31).between?(t1, t2) #=> true

What’s Here

First, what’s elsewhere. Class Time:

Here, class Time provides methods that are useful for:

  • {Creating Time objects}[rdoc-ref:Time@Methods+for+Creating].

  • {Fetching Time values}[rdoc-ref:Time@Methods+for+Fetching].

  • {Querying a Time object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Methods+for+Querying].

  • {Comparing Time objects}[rdoc-ref:Time@Methods+for+Comparing].

  • {Converting a Time object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Methods+for+Converting].

  • {Rounding a Time}.

Methods for Creating

  • ::new: Returns a new time from specified arguments (year, month, etc.), including an optional timezone value.

  • ::local (aliased as ::mktime): Same as ::new, except the timezone is the local timezone.

  • ::utc (aliased as ::gm): Same as ::new, except the timezone is UTC.

  • ::at: Returns a new time based on seconds since epoch.

  • ::now: Returns a new time based on the current system time.

  • + (plus): Returns a new time increased by the given number of seconds.

  • - (minus): Returns a new time decreased by the given number of seconds.

Methods for Fetching

  • year: Returns the year of the time.

  • month (aliased as mon): Returns the month of the time.

  • mday (aliased as day): Returns the day of the month.

  • hour: Returns the hours value for the time.

  • min: Returns the minutes value for the time.

  • sec: Returns the seconds value for the time.

  • usec (aliased as tv_usec): Returns the number of microseconds in the subseconds value of the time.

  • nsec (aliased as tv_nsec: Returns the number of nanoseconds in the subsecond part of the time.

  • subsec: Returns the subseconds value for the time.

  • wday: Returns the integer weekday value of the time (0 == Sunday).

  • yday: Returns the integer yearday value of the time (1 == January 1).

  • hash: Returns the integer hash value for the time.

  • utc_offset (aliased as gmt_offset and gmtoff): Returns the offset in seconds between time and UTC.

  • to_f: Returns the float number of seconds since epoch for the time.

  • to_i (aliased as tv_sec): Returns the integer number of seconds since epoch for the time.

  • to_r: Returns the Rational number of seconds since epoch for the time.

  • zone: Returns a string representation of the timezone of the time.

Methods for Querying

  • utc? (aliased as gmt?): Returns whether the time is UTC.

  • dst? (aliased as isdst): Returns whether the time is DST (daylight saving time).

  • sunday?: Returns whether the time is a Sunday.

  • monday?: Returns whether the time is a Monday.

  • tuesday?: Returns whether the time is a Tuesday.

  • wednesday?: Returns whether the time is a Wednesday.

  • thursday?: Returns whether the time is a Thursday.

  • friday?: Returns whether time is a Friday.

  • saturday?: Returns whether the time is a Saturday.

Methods for Comparing

  • <=>: Compares self to another time.

  • eql?: Returns whether the time is equal to another time.

Methods for Converting

  • asctime (aliased as ctime): Returns the time as a string.

  • inspect: Returns the time in detail as a string.

  • strftime: Returns the time as a string, according to a given format.

  • to_a: Returns a 10-element array of values from the time.

  • to_s: Returns a string representation of the time.

  • getutc (aliased as getgm): Returns a new time converted to UTC.

  • getlocal: Returns a new time converted to local time.

  • utc (aliased as gmtime): Converts time to UTC in place.

  • localtime: Converts time to local time in place.

  • deconstruct_keys: Returns a hash of time components used in pattern-matching.

Methods for Rounding

  • round:Returns a new time with subseconds rounded.

  • ceil: Returns a new time with subseconds raised to a ceiling.

  • floor: Returns a new time with subseconds lowered to a floor.

For the forms of argument zone, see Timezone Specifiers.

Timezone Specifiers

Certain Time methods accept arguments that specify timezones:

The value given with any of these must be one of the following (each detailed below):

Hours/Minutes Offsets

The zone value may be a string offset from UTC in the form '+HH:MM' or '-HH:MM', where:

  • HH is the 2-digit hour in the range 0..23.

  • MM is the 2-digit minute in the range 0..59.

Examples:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1) # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC
Time.at(t, in: '-23:59')            # => 1999-12-31 20:16:01 -2359
Time.at(t, in: '+23:59')            # => 2000-01-02 20:14:01 +2359

Single-Letter Offsets

The zone value may be a letter in the range 'A'..'I' or 'K'..'Z'; see List of military time zones:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1) # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC
Time.at(t, in: 'A')                 # => 2000-01-01 21:15:01 +0100
Time.at(t, in: 'I')                 # => 2000-01-02 05:15:01 +0900
Time.at(t, in: 'K')                 # => 2000-01-02 06:15:01 +1000
Time.at(t, in: 'Y')                 # => 2000-01-01 08:15:01 -1200
Time.at(t, in: 'Z')                 # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC

Integer Offsets

The zone value may be an integer number of seconds in the range -86399..86399:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1) # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC
Time.at(t, in: -86399)              # => 1999-12-31 20:15:02 -235959
Time.at(t, in: 86399)               # => 2000-01-02 20:15:00 +235959

Timezone Objects

The zone value may be an object responding to certain timezone methods, an instance of Timezone and TZInfo for example.

The timezone methods are:

A custom timezone class may have these instance methods, which will be called if defined:

  • abbr:

    • Called when Time#strftime is invoked with a format involving %Z.

    • Argument: a Time-like object.

    • Returns: a string abbreviation for the timezone name.

  • dst?:

  • name:

    • Called when Marshal.dump(t) is invoked

    • Argument: none.

    • Returns: the string name of the timezone.

Time-Like Objects

A Time-like object is a container object capable of interfacing with timezone libraries for timezone conversion.

The argument to the timezone conversion methods above will have attributes similar to Time, except that timezone related attributes are meaningless.

The objects returned by local_to_utc and utc_to_local methods of the timezone object may be of the same class as their arguments, of arbitrary object classes, or of class Integer.

For a returned class other than Integer, the class must have the following methods:

  • year

  • mon

  • mday

  • hour

  • min

  • sec

  • isdst

  • to_i

For a returned Integer, its components, decomposed in UTC, are interpreted as times in the specified timezone.

Timezone Names

If the class (the receiver of class methods, or the class of the receiver of instance methods) has find_timezone singleton method, this method is called to achieve the corresponding timezone object from a timezone name.

For example, using Timezone:

class TimeWithTimezone < Time
  require 'timezone'
  def self.find_timezone(z) = Timezone[z]
end

TimeWithTimezone.now(in: "America/New_York")        #=> 2023-12-25 00:00:00 -0500
TimeWithTimezone.new("2023-12-25 America/New_York") #=> 2023-12-25 00:00:00 -0500

Or, using TZInfo:

class TimeWithTZInfo < Time
  require 'tzinfo'
  def self.find_timezone(z) = TZInfo::Timezone.get(z)
end

TimeWithTZInfo.now(in: "America/New_York")          #=> 2023-12-25 00:00:00 -0500
TimeWithTZInfo.new("2023-12-25 America/New_York")   #=> 2023-12-25 00:00:00 -0500

You can define this method per subclasses, or on the toplevel Time class.

Constants
No documentation available

A hash of timezones mapped to hour differences from UTC. The set of time zones corresponds to the ones specified by RFC 2822 and ISO 8601.

No documentation available
Class Methods

Returns a new Time object based on the given arguments.

Required argument time may be either of:

  • A Time object, whose value is the basis for the returned time; also influenced by optional keyword argument in: (see below).

  • A numeric number of Epoch seconds for the returned time.

Examples:

t = Time.new(2000, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59) # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59 -0600
secs = t.to_i                          # => 978328799
Time.at(secs)                          # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59 -0600
Time.at(secs + 0.5)                    # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 -0600
Time.at(1000000000)                    # => 2001-09-08 20:46:40 -0500
Time.at(0)                             # => 1969-12-31 18:00:00 -0600
Time.at(-1000000000)                   # => 1938-04-24 17:13:20 -0500

Optional numeric argument subsec and optional symbol argument units work together to specify subseconds for the returned time; argument units specifies the units for subsec:

  • :millisecond: subsec in milliseconds:

    Time.at(secs, 0, :millisecond)     # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59 -0600
    Time.at(secs, 500, :millisecond)   # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 -0600
    Time.at(secs, 1000, :millisecond)  # => 2001-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.at(secs, -1000, :millisecond) # => 2000-12-31 23:59:58 -0600
    
  • :microsecond or :usec: subsec in microseconds:

    Time.at(secs, 0, :microsecond)        # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59 -0600
    Time.at(secs, 500000, :microsecond)   # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 -0600
    Time.at(secs, 1000000, :microsecond)  # => 2001-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.at(secs, -1000000, :microsecond) # => 2000-12-31 23:59:58 -0600
    
  • :nanosecond or :nsec: subsec in nanoseconds:

    Time.at(secs, 0, :nanosecond)           # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59 -0600
    Time.at(secs, 500000000, :nanosecond)   # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 -0600
    Time.at(secs, 1000000000, :nanosecond)  # => 2001-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.at(secs, -1000000000, :nanosecond) # => 2000-12-31 23:59:58 -0600
    

Optional keyword argument in: zone specifies the timezone for the returned time:

Time.at(secs, in: '+12:00') # => 2001-01-01 17:59:59 +1200
Time.at(secs, in: '-12:00') # => 2000-12-31 17:59:59 -1200

For the forms of argument zone, see Timezone Specifiers.

An alias for utc

Parses date as an HTTP-date defined by RFC 2616 and converts it to a Time object.

ArgumentError is raised if date is not compliant with RFC 2616 or if the Time class cannot represent specified date.

See httpdate for more information on this format.

require 'time'

Time.httpdate("Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:26:12 GMT")
#=> 2011-10-06 02:26:12 UTC

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

An alias for xmlschema

See as_json.

Like Time.utc, except that the returned Time object has the local timezone, not the UTC timezone:

# With seven arguments.
Time.local(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
# => 0000-01-02 03:04:05.000006 -0600
# With exactly ten arguments.
Time.local(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
# => 0005-04-03 02:01:00 -0600

Returns a new Time object based on the given arguments, by default in the local timezone.

With no positional arguments, returns the value of Time.now:

Time.new # => 2021-04-24 17:27:46.0512465 -0500

With one string argument that represents a time, returns a new Time object based on the given argument, in the local timezone.

Time.new('2000-12-31 23:59:59.5')              # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 -0600
Time.new('2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 +0900')        # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 +0900
Time.new('2000-12-31 23:59:59.5', in: '+0900') # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 +0900
Time.new('2000-12-31 23:59:59.5')              # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 -0600
Time.new('2000-12-31 23:59:59.56789', precision: 3) # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.567 -0600

With one to six arguments, returns a new Time object based on the given arguments, in the local timezone.

Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) # => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 -0600

For the positional arguments (other than zone):

  • year: Year, with no range limits:

    Time.new(999999999)  # => 999999999-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(-999999999) # => -999999999-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    
  • month: Month in range (1..12), or case-insensitive 3-letter month name:

    Time.new(2000, 1)     # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 12)    # => 2000-12-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 'jan') # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 'JAN') # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    
  • mday: Month day in range(1..31):

    Time.new(2000, 1, 1)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 1, 31) # => 2000-01-31 00:00:00 -0600
    
  • hour: Hour in range (0..23), or 24 if min, sec, and usec are zero:

    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 23) # => 2000-01-01 23:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 24) # => 2000-01-02 00:00:00 -0600
    
  • min: Minute in range (0..59):

    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 59) # => 2000-01-01 00:59:00 -0600
    
  • sec: Second in range (0…61):

    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 59) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:59 -0600
    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 60) # => 2000-01-01 00:01:00 -0600
    

    sec may be Float or Rational.

    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 59.5)  # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 +0900
    Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 59.7r) # => 2000-12-31 23:59:59.7 +0900
    

These values may be:

  • Integers, as above.

  • Numerics convertible to integers:

    Time.new(Float(0.0), Rational(1, 1), 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0)
    # => 0000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    
  • String integers:

    a = %w[0 1 1 0 0 0]
    # => ["0", "1", "1", "0", "0", "0"]
    Time.new(*a) # => 0000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
    

When positional argument zone or keyword argument in: is given, the new Time object is in the specified timezone. For the forms of argument zone, see Timezone Specifiers:

Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, '+12:00')
# => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 +1200
Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, in: '-12:00')
# => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -1200
Time.new(in: '-12:00')
# => 2022-08-23 08:49:26.1941467 -1200

Since in: keyword argument just provides the default, so if the first argument in single string form contains time zone information, this keyword argument will be silently ignored.

Time.new('2000-01-01 00:00:00 +0100', in: '-0500').utc_offset  # => 3600
  • precision: maximum effective digits in sub-second part, default is 9. More digits will be truncated, as other operations of Time. Ignored unless the first argument is a string.

Creates a new Time object from the current system time. This is the same as Time.new without arguments.

Time.now               # => 2009-06-24 12:39:54 +0900
Time.now(in: '+04:00') # => 2009-06-24 07:39:54 +0400

For forms of argument zone, see Timezone Specifiers.

Takes a string representation of a Time and attempts to parse it using a heuristic.

This method **does not** function as a validator. If the input string does not match valid formats strictly, you may get a cryptic result. Should consider to use ‘Time.strptime` instead of this method as possible.

require 'time'

Time.parse("2010-10-31") #=> 2010-10-31 00:00:00 -0500

Any missing pieces of the date are inferred based on the current date.

require 'time'

# assuming the current date is "2011-10-31"
Time.parse("12:00") #=> 2011-10-31 12:00:00 -0500

We can change the date used to infer our missing elements by passing a second object that responds to mon, day and year, such as Date, Time or DateTime. We can also use our own object.

require 'time'

class MyDate
  attr_reader :mon, :day, :year

  def initialize(mon, day, year)
    @mon, @day, @year = mon, day, year
  end
end

d  = Date.parse("2010-10-28")
t  = Time.parse("2010-10-29")
dt = DateTime.parse("2010-10-30")
md = MyDate.new(10,31,2010)

Time.parse("12:00", d)  #=> 2010-10-28 12:00:00 -0500
Time.parse("12:00", t)  #=> 2010-10-29 12:00:00 -0500
Time.parse("12:00", dt) #=> 2010-10-30 12:00:00 -0500
Time.parse("12:00", md) #=> 2010-10-31 12:00:00 -0500

If a block is given, the year described in date is converted by the block. This is specifically designed for handling two digit years. For example, if you wanted to treat all two digit years prior to 70 as the year 2000+ you could write this:

require 'time'

Time.parse("01-10-31") {|year| year + (year < 70 ? 2000 : 1900)}
#=> 2001-10-31 00:00:00 -0500
Time.parse("70-10-31") {|year| year + (year < 70 ? 2000 : 1900)}
#=> 1970-10-31 00:00:00 -0500

If the upper components of the given time are broken or missing, they are supplied with those of now. For the lower components, the minimum values (1 or 0) are assumed if broken or missing. For example:

require 'time'

# Suppose it is "Thu Nov 29 14:33:20 2001" now and
# your time zone is EST which is GMT-5.
now = Time.parse("Thu Nov 29 14:33:20 2001")
Time.parse("16:30", now)     #=> 2001-11-29 16:30:00 -0500
Time.parse("7/23", now)      #=> 2001-07-23 00:00:00 -0500
Time.parse("Aug 31", now)    #=> 2001-08-31 00:00:00 -0500
Time.parse("Aug 2000", now)  #=> 2000-08-01 00:00:00 -0500

Since there are numerous conflicts among locally defined time zone abbreviations all over the world, this method is not intended to understand all of them. For example, the abbreviation “CST” is used variously as:

-06:00 in America/Chicago,
-05:00 in America/Havana,
+08:00 in Asia/Harbin,
+09:30 in Australia/Darwin,
+10:30 in Australia/Adelaide,
etc.

Based on this fact, this method only understands the time zone abbreviations described in RFC 822 and the system time zone, in the order named. (i.e. a definition in RFC 822 overrides the system time zone definition.) The system time zone is taken from Time.local(year, 1, 1).zone and Time.local(year, 7, 1).zone. If the extracted time zone abbreviation does not match any of them, it is ignored and the given time is regarded as a local time.

ArgumentError is raised if Date._parse cannot extract information from date or if the Time class cannot represent specified date.

This method can be used as a fail-safe for other parsing methods as:

Time.rfc2822(date) rescue Time.parse(date)
Time.httpdate(date) rescue Time.parse(date)
Time.xmlschema(date) rescue Time.parse(date)

A failure of Time.parse should be checked, though.

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

Parses date as date-time defined by RFC 2822 and converts it to a Time object. The format is identical to the date format defined by RFC 822 and updated by RFC 1123.

ArgumentError is raised if date is not compliant with RFC 2822 or if the Time class cannot represent specified date.

See rfc2822 for more information on this format.

require 'time'

Time.rfc2822("Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:26:12 -0400")
#=> 2010-10-05 22:26:12 -0400

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

An alias for rfc2822

Works similar to parse except that instead of using a heuristic to detect the format of the input string, you provide a second argument that describes the format of the string.

Raises ‘ArgumentError` if the date or format is invalid.

If a block is given, the year described in date is converted by the block. For example:

Time.strptime(...) {|y| y < 100 ? (y >= 69 ? y + 1900 : y + 2000) : y}

Below is a list of the formatting options:

%a

The abbreviated weekday name (“Sun”)

%A

The full weekday name (“Sunday”)

%b

The abbreviated month name (“Jan”)

%B

The full month name (“January”)

%c

The preferred local date and time representation

%C

Century (20 in 2009)

%d

Day of the month (01..31)

%D

Date (%m/%d/%y)

%e

Day of the month, blank-padded ( 1..31)

%F

Equivalent to %Y-%m-%d (the ISO 8601 date format)

%g

The last two digits of the commercial year

%G

The week-based year according to ISO-8601 (week 1 starts on Monday and includes January 4)

%h

Equivalent to %b

%H

Hour of the day, 24-hour clock (00..23)

%I

Hour of the day, 12-hour clock (01..12)

%j

Day of the year (001..366)

%k

hour, 24-hour clock, blank-padded ( 0..23)

%l

hour, 12-hour clock, blank-padded ( 0..12)

%L

Millisecond of the second (000..999)

%m

Month of the year (01..12)

%M

Minute of the hour (00..59)

%n

Newline (n)

%N

Fractional seconds digits

%p

Meridian indicator (“AM” or “PM”)

%P

Meridian indicator (“am” or “pm”)

%r

time, 12-hour (same as %I:%M:%S %p)

%R

time, 24-hour (%H:%M)

%s

Number of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.

%S

Second of the minute (00..60)

%t

Tab character (t)

%T

time, 24-hour (%H:%M:%S)

%u

Day of the week as a decimal, Monday being 1. (1..7)

%U

Week number of the current year, starting with the first Sunday as the first day of the first week (00..53)

%v

VMS date (%e-%b-%Y)

%V

Week number of year according to ISO 8601 (01..53)

%W

Week number of the current year, starting with the first Monday as the first day of the first week (00..53)

%w

Day of the week (Sunday is 0, 0..6)

%x

Preferred representation for the date alone, no time

%X

Preferred representation for the time alone, no date

%y

Year without a century (00..99)

%Y

Year which may include century, if provided

%z

Time zone as hour offset from UTC (e.g. +0900)

%Z

Time zone name

%%

Literal “%” character

%+

date(1) (%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y)

require 'time'

Time.strptime("2000-10-31", "%Y-%m-%d") #=> 2000-10-31 00:00:00 -0500

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

Returns a new Time object based the on given arguments, in the UTC timezone.

With one to seven arguments given, the arguments are interpreted as in the first calling sequence above:

Time.utc(year, month = 1, mday = 1, hour = 0, min = 0, sec = 0, usec = 0)

Examples:

Time.utc(2000)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Time.utc(-2000) # => -2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC

There are no minimum and maximum values for the required argument year.

For the optional arguments:

  • month: Month in range (1..12), or case-insensitive 3-letter month name:

    Time.utc(2000, 1)     # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 12)    # => 2000-12-01 00:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 'jan') # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 'JAN') # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    
  • mday: Month day in range(1..31):

    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 1, 31) # => 2000-01-31 00:00:00 UTC
    
  • hour: Hour in range (0..23), or 24 if min, sec, and usec are zero:

    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 0)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 23) # => 2000-01-01 23:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 24) # => 2000-01-02 00:00:00 UTC
    
  • min: Minute in range (0..59):

    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 0, 59) # => 2000-01-01 00:59:00 UTC
    
  • sec: Second in range (0..59), or 60 if usec is zero:

    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0)  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 59) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:59 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 60) # => 2000-01-01 00:01:00 UTC
    
  • usec: Microsecond in range (0..999999):

    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0)      # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 999999) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00.999999 UTC
    

The values may be:

  • Integers, as above.

  • Numerics convertible to integers:

    Time.utc(Float(0.0), Rational(1, 1), 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0)
    # => 0000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    
  • String integers:

    a = %w[0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0]
    # => ["0", "1", "1", "0", "0", "0", "0", "0"]
    Time.utc(*a) # => 0000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
    

When exactly ten arguments are given, the arguments are interpreted as in the second calling sequence above:

Time.utc(sec, min, hour, mday, month, year, dummy, dummy, dummy, dummy)

where the dummy arguments are ignored:

a = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
# => [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Time.utc(*a) # => 0005-04-03 02:01:00 UTC

This form is useful for creating a Time object from a 10-element array returned by Time.to_a:

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) # => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 +000006
a = t.to_a   # => [5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2000, 0, 2, false, nil]
Time.utc(*a) # => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 UTC

The two forms have their first six arguments in common, though in different orders; the ranges of these common arguments are the same for both forms; see above.

Raises an exception if the number of arguments is eight, nine, or greater than ten.

Related: Time.local.

Parses time as a dateTime defined by the XML Schema and converts it to a Time object. The format is a restricted version of the format defined by ISO 8601.

ArgumentError is raised if time is not compliant with the format or if the Time class cannot represent the specified time.

See xmlschema for more information on this format.

require 'time'

Time.xmlschema("2011-10-05T22:26:12-04:00")
#=> 2011-10-05 22:26:12-04:00

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

Return the number of seconds the specified time zone differs from UTC.

Numeric time zones that include minutes, such as -10:00 or +1330 will work, as will simpler hour-only time zones like -10 or +13.

Textual time zones listed in ZoneOffset are also supported.

If the time zone does not match any of the above, zone_offset will check if the local time zone (both with and without potential Daylight Saving Time changes being in effect) matches zone. Specifying a value for year will change the year used to find the local time zone.

If zone_offset is unable to determine the offset, nil will be returned.

require 'time'

Time.zone_offset("EST") #=> -18000

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

Instance Methods

Returns a new Time object whose value is the sum of the numeric value of self and the given numeric:

t = Time.new(2000) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
t + (60 * 60 * 24) # => 2000-01-02 00:00:00 -0600
t + 0.5            # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00.5 -0600

Related: Time#-.

When numeric is given, returns a new Time object whose value is the difference of the numeric value of self and numeric:

t = Time.new(2000) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
t - (60 * 60 * 24) # => 1999-12-31 00:00:00 -0600
t - 0.5            # => 1999-12-31 23:59:59.5 -0600

When other_time is given, returns a Float whose value is the difference of the numeric values of self and other_time in seconds:

t - t # => 0.0

Related: Time#+.

Compares self with other_time; returns:

  • -1, if self is less than other_time.

  • 0, if self is equal to other_time.

  • 1, if self is greater then other_time.

  • nil, if self and other_time are incomparable.

Examples:

t = Time.now     # => 2007-11-19 08:12:12 -0600
t2 = t + 2592000 # => 2007-12-19 08:12:12 -0600
t <=> t2         # => -1
t2 <=> t         # => 1

t = Time.now     # => 2007-11-19 08:13:38 -0600
t2 = t + 0.1     # => 2007-11-19 08:13:38 -0600
t.nsec           # => 98222999
t2.nsec          # => 198222999
t <=> t2         # => -1
t2 <=> t         # => 1
t <=> t          # => 0

Methods Time#as_json and Time.json_create may be used to serialize and deserialize a Time object; see Marshal.

Method Time#as_json serializes self, returning a 2-element hash representing self:

require 'json/add/time'
x = Time.now.as_json
# => {"json_class"=>"Time", "s"=>1700931656, "n"=>472846644}

Method JSON.create deserializes such a hash, returning a Time object:

Time.json_create(x)
# => 2023-11-25 11:00:56.472846644 -0600
An alias for ctime

Returns a new Time object whose numerical value is greater than or equal to self with its seconds truncated to precision ndigits:

t = Time.utc(2010, 3, 30, 5, 43, 25.123456789r)
t          # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.123456789 UTC
t.ceil     # => 2010-03-30 05:43:26 UTC
t.ceil(2)  # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.13 UTC
t.ceil(4)  # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.1235 UTC
t.ceil(6)  # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.123457 UTC
t.ceil(8)  # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.12345679 UTC
t.ceil(10) # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.123456789 UTC

t = Time.utc(1999, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
t              # => 1999-12-31 23:59:59 UTC
(t + 0.4).ceil # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
(t + 0.9).ceil # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
(t + 1.4).ceil # => 2000-01-01 00:00:01 UTC
(t + 1.9).ceil # => 2000-01-01 00:00:01 UTC

Related: Time#floor, Time#round.

Returns a string representation of self, formatted by strftime('%a %b %e %T %Y') or its shorthand version strftime('%c'); see Formats for Dates and Times:

t = Time.new(2000, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59, 0.5)
t.ctime                      # => "Sun Dec 31 23:59:59 2000"
t.strftime('%a %b %e %T %Y') # => "Sun Dec 31 23:59:59 2000"
t.strftime('%c')             # => "Sun Dec 31 23:59:59 2000"

Related: Time#to_s, Time#inspect:

t.inspect                    # => "2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 +000001"
t.to_s                       # => "2000-12-31 23:59:59 +0000"
An alias for mday

Returns a hash of the name/value pairs, to use in pattern matching. Possible keys are: :year, :month, :day, :yday, :wday, :hour, :min, :sec, :subsec, :dst, :zone.

Possible usages:

t = Time.utc(2022, 10, 5, 21, 25, 30)

if t in wday: 3, day: ..7  # uses deconstruct_keys underneath
  puts "first Wednesday of the month"
end
#=> prints "first Wednesday of the month"

case t
in year: ...2022
  puts "too old"
in month: ..9
  puts "quarter 1-3"
in wday: 1..5, month:
  puts "working day in month #{month}"
end
#=> prints "working day in month 10"

Note that deconstruction by pattern can also be combined with class check:

if t in Time(wday: 3, day: ..7)
  puts "first Wednesday of the month"
end

Returns true if self and other_time are both Time objects with the exact same time value.

Returns a new Time object whose numerical value is less than or equal to self with its seconds truncated to precision ndigits:

t = Time.utc(2010, 3, 30, 5, 43, 25.123456789r)
t           # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.123456789 UTC
t.floor     # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25 UTC
t.floor(2)  # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.12 UTC
t.floor(4)  # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.1234 UTC
t.floor(6)  # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.123456 UTC
t.floor(8)  # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.12345678 UTC
t.floor(10) # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.123456789 UTC

t = Time.utc(1999, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59)
t               # => 1999-12-31 23:59:59 UTC
(t + 0.4).floor # => 1999-12-31 23:59:59 UTC
(t + 0.9).floor # => 1999-12-31 23:59:59 UTC
(t + 1.4).floor # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
(t + 1.9).floor # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC

Related: Time#ceil, Time#round.

Returns true if self represents a Friday, false otherwise:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 7) # => 2000-01-07 00:00:00 UTC
t.friday?                # => true

Related: Time#saturday?, Time#sunday?, Time#monday?.

Returns a new Time object representing the value of self converted to the UTC timezone:

local = Time.local(2000) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
local.utc?               # => false
utc = local.getutc       # => 2000-01-01 06:00:00 UTC
utc.utc?                 # => true
utc == local             # => true

Returns a new Time object representing the value of self converted to a given timezone; if zone is nil, the local timezone is used:

t = Time.utc(2000)                    # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
t.getlocal                            # => 1999-12-31 18:00:00 -0600
t.getlocal('+12:00')                  # => 2000-01-01 12:00:00 +1200

For forms of argument zone, see Timezone Specifiers.

An alias for utc?

Returns self, converted to the UTC timezone:

t = Time.new(2000) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
t.utc?             # => false
t.utc              # => 2000-01-01 06:00:00 UTC
t.utc?             # => true

Related: Time#getutc (returns a new converted Time object).

Returns the offset in seconds between the timezones of UTC and self:

Time.utc(2000, 1, 1).utc_offset   # => 0
Time.local(2000, 1, 1).utc_offset # => -21600 # -6*3600, or minus six hours.

Returns the integer hash code for self.

Related: Object#hash.

Returns the integer hour of the day for self, in range (0..23):

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
# => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 +000006
t.hour # => 3

Related: Time#year, Time#mon, Time#min.

Returns a string which represents the time as RFC 1123 date of HTTP-date defined by RFC 2616:

day-of-week, DD month-name CCYY hh:mm:ss GMT

Note that the result is always UTC (GMT).

require 'time'

t = Time.now
t.httpdate # => "Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:26:12 GMT"

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

Returns a string representation of self with subseconds:

t = Time.new(2000, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59, 0.5)
t.inspect # => "2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 +000001"

Related: Time#ctime, Time#to_s:

t.ctime   # => "Sun Dec 31 23:59:59 2000"
t.to_s    # => "2000-12-31 23:59:59 +0000"

Returns true if self is in daylight saving time, false otherwise:

t = Time.local(2000, 1, 1) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 -0600
t.zone                     # => "Central Standard Time"
t.dst?                     # => false
t = Time.local(2000, 7, 1) # => 2000-07-01 00:00:00 -0500
t.zone                     # => "Central Daylight Time"
t.dst?                     # => true

With no argument given:

  • Returns self if self is a local time.

  • Otherwise returns a new Time in the user’s local timezone:

    t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1) # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC
    t.localtime                         # => 2000-01-01 14:15:01 -0600
    

With argument zone given, returns the new Time object created by converting self to the given time zone:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1) # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC
t.localtime("-09:00")               # => 2000-01-01 11:15:01 -0900

For forms of argument zone, see Timezone Specifiers.

Returns the integer day of the month for self, in range (1..31):

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
# => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 +000006
t.mday # => 2

Related: Time#year, Time#hour, Time#min.

Returns the integer minute of the hour for self, in range (0..59):

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
# => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 +000006
t.min # => 4

Related: Time#year, Time#mon, Time#sec.

Returns the integer month of the year for self, in range (1..12):

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
# => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 +000006
t.mon # => 1

Related: Time#year, Time#hour, Time#min.

Returns true if self represents a Monday, false otherwise:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 3) # => 2000-01-03 00:00:00 UTC
t.monday?                # => true

Related: Time#tuesday?, Time#wednesday?, Time#thursday?.

An alias for mon

Returns a string which represents the time as date-time defined by RFC 2822:

day-of-week, DD month-name CCYY hh:mm:ss zone

where zone is [+-]hhmm.

If self is a UTC time, -0000 is used as zone.

require 'time'

t = Time.now
t.rfc2822  # => "Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:26:12 -0400"

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

An alias for rfc2822

Returns a new Time object whose numeric value is that of self, with its seconds value rounded to precision ndigits:

t = Time.utc(2010, 3, 30, 5, 43, 25.123456789r)
t          # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.123456789 UTC
t.round    # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25 UTC
t.round(0) # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25 UTC
t.round(1) # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.1 UTC
t.round(2) # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.12 UTC
t.round(3) # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.123 UTC
t.round(4) # => 2010-03-30 05:43:25.1235 UTC

t = Time.utc(1999, 12,31, 23, 59, 59)
t                # => 1999-12-31 23:59:59 UTC
(t + 0.4).round  # => 1999-12-31 23:59:59 UTC
(t + 0.49).round # => 1999-12-31 23:59:59 UTC
(t + 0.5).round  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
(t + 1.4).round  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
(t + 1.49).round # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
(t + 1.5).round  # => 2000-01-01 00:00:01 UTC

Related: Time#ceil, Time#floor.

Returns true if self represents a Saturday, false otherwise:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1) # => 2000-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
t.saturday?              # => true

Related: Time#sunday?, Time#monday?, Time#tuesday?.

Returns the integer second of the minute for self, in range (0..60):

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
# => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 +000006
t.sec # => 5

Note: the second value may be 60 when there is a leap second.

Related: Time#year, Time#mon, Time#min.

Returns a string representation of self, formatted according to the given string format. See Formats for Dates and Times.

Returns the exact subseconds for self as a Numeric (Integer or Rational):

t = Time.now # => 2022-07-11 15:11:36.8490302 -0500
t.subsec     # => (4245151/5000000)

If the subseconds is zero, returns integer zero:

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4) # => 2000-01-01 02:03:04 -0600
t.subsec                          # => 0

Returns true if self represents a Sunday, false otherwise:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 2) # => 2000-01-02 00:00:00 UTC
t.sunday?                # => true

Related: Time#monday?, Time#tuesday?, Time#wednesday?.

Returns true if self represents a Thursday, false otherwise:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 6) # => 2000-01-06 00:00:00 UTC
t.thursday?              # => true

Related: Time#friday?, Time#saturday?, Time#sunday?.

Returns a 10-element array of values representing self:

Time.utc(2000, 1, 1).to_a
# => [0,   0,   0,    1,   1,   2000, 6,    1,    false, "UTC"]
#    [sec, min, hour, day, mon, year, wday, yday, dst?,   zone]

The returned array is suitable for use as an argument to Time.utc or Time.local to create a new Time object.

Returns a Date object which denotes self.

Returns a DateTime object which denotes self.

Returns the value of self as a Float number Epoch seconds; subseconds are included.

The stored value of self is a Rational, which means that the returned value may be approximate:

Time.utc(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0).to_f         # => 0.0
Time.utc(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 999999).to_f # => 0.999999
Time.utc(1950, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0).to_f         # => -631152000.0
Time.utc(1990, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0).to_f         # => 631152000.0

Related: Time#to_i, Time#to_r.

Returns the value of self as integer Epoch seconds; subseconds are truncated (not rounded):

Time.utc(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0).to_i         # => 0
Time.utc(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 999999).to_i # => 0
Time.utc(1950, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0).to_i         # => -631152000
Time.utc(1990, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0).to_i         # => 631152000

Related: Time#to_f Time#to_r.

Returns a JSON string representing self:

require 'json/add/time'
puts Time.now.to_json

Output:

{"json_class":"Time","s":1700931678,"n":980650786}

Returns the value of self as a Rational exact number of Epoch seconds;

Time.now.to_r # => (16571402750320203/10000000)

Related: Time#to_f, Time#to_i.

Returns a string representation of self, without subseconds:

t = Time.new(2000, 12, 31, 23, 59, 59, 0.5)
t.to_s    # => "2000-12-31 23:59:59 +0000"

Related: Time#ctime, Time#inspect:

t.ctime   # => "Sun Dec 31 23:59:59 2000"
t.inspect # => "2000-12-31 23:59:59.5 +000001"

Returns self.

Returns true if self represents a Tuesday, false otherwise:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 4) # => 2000-01-04 00:00:00 UTC
t.tuesday?               # => true

Related: Time#wednesday?, Time#thursday?, Time#friday?.

Returns the number of nanoseconds in the subseconds part of self in the range (0..999_999_999); lower-order digits are truncated, not rounded:

t = Time.now # => 2022-07-11 15:04:53.3219637 -0500
t.nsec       # => 321963700

Related: Time#subsec (returns exact subseconds).

An alias for to_i

Returns the number of microseconds in the subseconds part of self in the range (0..999_999); lower-order digits are truncated, not rounded:

t = Time.now # => 2022-07-11 14:59:47.5484697 -0500
t.usec       # => 548469

Related: Time#subsec (returns exact subseconds).

Returns true if self represents a time in UTC (GMT):

now = Time.now
# => 2022-08-18 10:24:13.5398485 -0500
now.utc? # => false
utc = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1)
# => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC
utc.utc? # => true

Related: Time.utc.

Returns the integer day of the week for self, in range (0..6), with Sunday as zero.

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
# => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 +000006
t.wday    # => 0
t.sunday? # => true

Related: Time#year, Time#hour, Time#min.

Returns true if self represents a Wednesday, false otherwise:

t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 5) # => 2000-01-05 00:00:00 UTC
t.wednesday?             # => true

Related: Time#thursday?, Time#friday?, Time#saturday?.

Returns a string which represents the time as a dateTime defined by XML Schema:

CCYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD
CCYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sssTZD

where TZD is Z or [+-]hh:mm.

If self is a UTC time, Z is used as TZD. [+-]hh:mm is used otherwise.

fraction_digits specifies a number of digits to use for fractional seconds. Its default value is 0.

require 'time'

t = Time.now
t.iso8601  # => "2011-10-05T22:26:12-04:00"

You must require ‘time’ to use this method.

Returns the integer day of the year of self, in range (1..366).

Time.new(2000, 1, 1).yday   # => 1
Time.new(2000, 12, 31).yday # => 366

Returns the integer year for self:

t = Time.new(2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
# => 2000-01-02 03:04:05 +000006
t.year # => 2000

Related: Time#mon, Time#hour, Time#min.

Returns the string name of the time zone for self:

Time.utc(2000, 1, 1).zone # => "UTC"
Time.new(2000, 1, 1).zone # => "Central Standard Time"