Convert to a formatted string. See DATE_FORMATS for predefined formats.
This method is aliased to to_s.
Examples:
date = Date.new(2007, 11, 10) # => Sat, 10 Nov 2007
date.to_formatted_s(:db) # => "2007-11-10"
date.to_s(:db) # => "2007-11-10"
date.to_formatted_s(:short) # => "10 Nov"
date.to_formatted_s(:long) # => "November 10, 2007"
date.to_formatted_s(:long_ordinal) # => "November 10th, 2007"
date.to_formatted_s(:rfc822) # => "10 Nov 2007"
Adding your own time formats to to_formatted_s
You can add your own formats to the Date::DATE_FORMATS hash. Use the format
name as the hash key and either a strftime string or Proc instance that
takes a date argument as the value.
# config/initializers/time_formats.rb
Date::DATE_FORMATS[:month_and_year] = "%B %Y"
Date::DATE_FORMATS[:short_ordinal] = lambda { |date| date.strftime("%B #{date.day.ordinalize}") }