From: Michael Libby <michael.c.libby@...>
Date: 2008-08-06T22:53:34+09:00
Subject: Re: is there a way to AutoParse a string to another type - e.g. if a Date format then date, else if integer than Integer etc ?????

On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 12:50 AM, Greg Hauptmann
<greg.hauptmann.ruby@gmail.com> wrote:
> umm...Date parse doesn't seem to be that good, for example see below
>
>>> Loading development environment (Rails 2.1.0)
>>>
> ?> Date.parse("123", "%d/%m/%Y")
> => Fri, 02 May 2008
>>> Date.parse("123", "%d/%m/%Y").class
> => Date

As far as I can tell, Date.parse doesn't really want a format string
as the second argument. And Date.parse is working great in your
example, it gave you a date corresponding to the 123rd day of this
year. :)

If you're not sure whether your input string is actually a date, you
might be more interested in Date.strptime:

irb(main):012:0> value = Date.strptime("123", "%d/%m/%y") rescue Integer("123")
=> 123
irb(main):013:0> value.class
=> Fixnum

-Michael