From: Suraj Kurapati <snk@...>
Date: 2008-08-26T00:57:53+09:00
Subject: Re: setting date format to validate date in ruby

Thomas B. wrote:
> Jay Pangmi wrote:
>> Thomas B. wrote:
>>> You can have a look at this post: 
>>> http://al2o3-cr.blogspot.com/2008/08/downloading-file.html . There's 
>>> date validation in it, in the very general form, working with any 
>>> separator and any number of digits. It uses scanning for digit groups.
>>
>> Now what is bothering me is the logic to sort out the dates in the 
>> array. I tried the simplest way "Array.sort" but it only sorted the 
>> array according to the first value it sees not the whole date. How can I 
>> sort it out. Thanks
> 
> Use the same approach as is used in the post I gave you link to:
> - create Date objects for each date (once you parse it and see that it 
> is correct), and put the dates in an array,
> - sort the array of dates, they will get sorted OK,
> - convert dates back to strings if you need to, using Date#strftime.

This can all be done *temporarily* if you use Array#sort_by:

  string_dates = [ ... ]
  result = string_dates.sort_by {|s| Date.parse s }

Assuming that Date.parse is how you convert your string dates into Date 
objects.
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