How can I create a new Date instance in Ruby

How can I create a new Date object in IRB with a given date.
The following didn't work.

1.9.3p194 :053 > require 'active_support'
=> true
1.9.3p194 :054 > Date.new
=> #<Date:0x9d80730>
1.9.3p194 :055 > Date.parse('12/01/2012')
NoMethodError: undefined method `parse' for Date:Class
from (irb):55

1.9.3p194 :055 > Date.new('12/01/2012')
ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments(1 for 0)

According to [Date documentation][1]:

require 'date'

Date.new(2001,2,25) #=> #<Date: 2001-02-25
Date.jd(2451966) #=> #<Date: 2001-02-25
Date.ordinal(2001,56) #=> #<Date: 2001-02-25
Date.commercial(2001,8,7) #=> #<Date: 2001-02-25
Date.parse('2001-02-25') #=> #<Date: 2001-02-25
Date.strptime('25-02-2001', '%d-%m-%Y') #=> #<Date: 2001-02-25
Time.new(2001,2,25).to_date #=> #<Date: 2001-02-25


[1]:

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I find the following easier to remember than `Date.new`:

require 'active_support/core_ext/string'
'2019-03-31'.to_date
=> #<Date: 2019-03-21 ((2458564j,0s,0n),+0s,2299161j)>

See

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require 'date'
Date::strptime("29-05-2017", "%d-%m-%Y")
So, you need to include this *date* module in your code and then use the method *strptime* inside which you may notice for year, I have used capital **Y** because full year is entered as the first parameter of the strptime method. You can use small **y** if the date is like '29-05-17'.

You need to use the date extension from the Ruby Standard Library.
Most examples in the docs don't always show you to require it.

require 'date'

was what you needed. It's not a built in set of Classes or Modules.

You get two Classes with that addition,

Date
DateTime

And with that you may now use info found in the [docs](

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)

If you're trying to get active_support extensions to Date outside of Rails, you'll have to use the core_ext module:

require 'active_support/core_ext/date/calculations'
Date.parse('12/01/2012')
=> #<Date: 2012-01-12 ((2455939j,0s,0n),+0s,2299161j)>

More info in this Rails guide:

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Date.strptime("2012-09-21 19:45:48","%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")

1.9.3-p125 :012 > require 'date'
=> true
1.9.3-p125 :013 > Date::new(2012,02,03)
=> #<Date: 2012-02-03 ((2455961j,0s,0n),+0s,2299161j)>
1.9.3-p125 :014 >