instance method to_fs

Converts to a formatted string. See DATE_FORMATS for built-in formats.

This method is aliased to to_formatted_s.

time = Time.now                    # => 2007-01-18 06:10:17 -06:00

time.to_fs(:time)                  # => "06:10"
time.to_formatted_s(:time)         # => "06:10"

time.to_fs(:db)           # => "2007-01-18 06:10:17"
time.to_fs(:number)       # => "20070118061017"
time.to_fs(:short)        # => "18 Jan 06:10"
time.to_fs(:long)         # => "January 18, 2007 06:10"
time.to_fs(:long_ordinal) # => "January 18th, 2007 06:10"
time.to_fs(:rfc822)       # => "Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:10:17 -0600"
time.to_fs(:iso8601)      # => "2007-01-18T06:10:17-06:00"

Adding your own time formats to to_fs

You can add your own formats to the Time::DATE_FORMATS hash. Use the format name as the hash key and either a strftime string or Proc instance that takes a time argument as the value.

# config/initializers/time_formats.rb
Time::DATE_FORMATS[:month_and_year] = '%B %Y'
Time::DATE_FORMATS[:short_ordinal]  = ->(time) { time.strftime("%B #{time.day.ordinalize}") }