Skip to Content Skip to Search

class ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone

Active Support Time With Zone

A Time-like class that can represent a time in any time zone. Necessary because standard Ruby Time instances are limited to UTC and the system’s ENV['TZ'] zone.

You shouldn’t ever need to create a TimeWithZone instance directly via new. Instead use methods local, parse, at, and now on TimeZone instances, and in_time_zone on Time and DateTime instances.

Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'        # => 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'
Time.zone.local(2007, 2, 10, 15, 30, 45)        # => Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:30:45.000000000 EST -05:00
Time.zone.parse('2007-02-10 15:30:45')          # => Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:30:45.000000000 EST -05:00
Time.zone.at(1171139445)                        # => Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:30:45.000000000 EST -05:00
Time.zone.now                                   # => Sun, 18 May 2008 13:07:55.754107581 EDT -04:00
Time.utc(2007, 2, 10, 20, 30, 45).in_time_zone  # => Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:30:45.000000000 EST -05:00

See Time and TimeZone for further documentation of these methods.

TimeWithZone instances implement the same API as Ruby Time instances, so that Time and TimeWithZone instances are interchangeable.

t = Time.zone.now                     # => Sun, 18 May 2008 13:27:25.031505668 EDT -04:00
t.hour                                # => 13
t.dst?                                # => true
t.utc_offset                          # => -14400
t.zone                                # => "EDT"
t.to_fs(:rfc822)                      # => "Sun, 18 May 2008 13:27:25 -0400"
t + 1.day                             # => Mon, 19 May 2008 13:27:25.031505668 EDT -04:00
t.beginning_of_year                   # => Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00.000000000 EST -05:00
t > Time.utc(1999)                    # => true
t.is_a?(Time)                         # => true
t.is_a?(ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone)  # => true

Constants

Hash.new { |h, n| h[n] = "%FT%T.%#{n}N" }
86400

Attributes

[R] time_zone

Public class methods

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 51
def initialize(utc_time, time_zone, local_time = nil, period = nil)
  @utc = utc_time ? transfer_time_values_to_utc_constructor(utc_time) : nil
  @time_zone, @time = time_zone, local_time
  @period = @utc ? period : get_period_and_ensure_valid_local_time(period)
end

Public instance methods

Also aliased as: since, in.

Adds an interval of time to the current object’s time and returns that value as a new TimeWithZone object.

Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)' # => 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'
now = Time.zone.now # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 01:26:28.725182881 EDT -04:00
now + 1000          # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 01:43:08.725182881 EDT -04:00

If we’re adding a Duration of variable length (i.e., years, months, days), move forward from time, otherwise move forward from utc, for accuracy when moving across DST boundaries.

For instance, a time + 24.hours will advance exactly 24 hours, while a time + 1.day will advance 23-25 hours, depending on the day.

now + 24.hours      # => Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:26:28.725182881 EST -05:00
now + 1.day         # => Mon, 03 Nov 2014 01:26:28.725182881 EST -05:00
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 298
def +(other)
  if duration_of_variable_length?(other)
    method_missing(:+, other)
  else
    begin
      result = utc + other
    rescue TypeError
      result = utc.to_datetime.since(other)
      ActiveSupport.deprecator.warn(
        "Adding an instance of #{other.class} to an instance of #{self.class} is deprecated. This behavior will raise " \
        "a `TypeError` in Rails 8.1."
      )
      result.in_time_zone(time_zone)
    end
    result.in_time_zone(time_zone)
  end
end

Subtracts an interval of time and returns a new TimeWithZone object unless the other value acts_like? time. In which case, it will subtract the other time and return the difference in seconds as a Float.

Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)' # => 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'
now = Time.zone.now # => Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:26:28.725182881 EST -05:00
now - 1000          # => Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:09:48.725182881 EST -05:00

If subtracting a Duration of variable length (i.e., years, months, days), move backward from time, otherwise move backward from utc, for accuracy when moving across DST boundaries.

For instance, a time - 24.hours will go subtract exactly 24 hours, while a time - 1.day will subtract 23-25 hours, depending on the day.

now - 24.hours      # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 01:26:28.725182881 EDT -04:00
now - 1.day         # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:26:28.725182881 EDT -04:00

If both the TimeWithZone object and the other value act like Time, a Float will be returned.

Time.zone.now - 1.day.ago # => 86399.999967
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 341
def -(other)
  if other.acts_like?(:time)
    getutc - other.getutc
  elsif duration_of_variable_length?(other)
    method_missing(:-, other)
  else
    result = utc - other
    result.in_time_zone(time_zone)
  end
end

Use the time in UTC for comparisons.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 231
def <=>(other)
  utc <=> other
end

So that self acts_like?(:time).

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 504
def acts_like_time?
  true
end

Uses Date to provide precise Time calculations for years, months, and days according to the proleptic Gregorian calendar. The result is returned as a new TimeWithZone object.

The options parameter takes a hash with any of these keys: :years, :months, :weeks, :days, :hours, :minutes, :seconds.

If advancing by a value of variable length (i.e., years, weeks, months, days), move forward from time, otherwise move forward from utc, for accuracy when moving across DST boundaries.

Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)' # => 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'
now = Time.zone.now # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 01:26:28.558049687 EDT -04:00
now.advance(seconds: 1) # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 01:26:29.558049687 EDT -04:00
now.advance(minutes: 1) # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 01:27:28.558049687 EDT -04:00
now.advance(hours: 1)   # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 01:26:28.558049687 EST -05:00
now.advance(days: 1)    # => Mon, 03 Nov 2014 01:26:28.558049687 EST -05:00
now.advance(weeks: 1)   # => Sun, 09 Nov 2014 01:26:28.558049687 EST -05:00
now.advance(months: 1)  # => Tue, 02 Dec 2014 01:26:28.558049687 EST -05:00
now.advance(years: 1)   # => Mon, 02 Nov 2015 01:26:28.558049687 EST -05:00
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 430
def advance(options)
  # If we're advancing a value of variable length (i.e., years, weeks, months, days), advance from #time,
  # otherwise advance from #utc, for accuracy when moving across DST boundaries
  if options.values_at(:years, :weeks, :months, :days).any?
    method_missing(:advance, options)
  else
    utc.advance(options).in_time_zone(time_zone)
  end
end

Subtracts an interval of time from the current object’s time and returns the result as a new TimeWithZone object.

Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)' # => 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'
now = Time.zone.now # => Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:26:28.725182881 EST -05:00
now.ago(1000)       # => Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:09:48.725182881 EST -05:00

If we’re subtracting a Duration of variable length (i.e., years, months, days), move backward from time, otherwise move backward from utc, for accuracy when moving across DST boundaries.

For instance, time.ago(24.hours) will move back exactly 24 hours, while time.ago(1.day) will move back 23-25 hours, depending on the day.

now.ago(24.hours)   # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 01:26:28.725182881 EDT -04:00
now.ago(1.day)      # => Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:26:28.725182881 EDT -04:00
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 369
def ago(other)
  since(-other)
end

Coerces time to a string for JSON encoding. The default format is ISO 8601. You can get %Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S +offset style by setting ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding.use_standard_json_time_format to false.

# With ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding.use_standard_json_time_format = true
Time.utc(2005,2,1,15,15,10).in_time_zone("Hawaii").as_json
# => "2005-02-01T05:15:10.000-10:00"

# With ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding.use_standard_json_time_format = false
Time.utc(2005,2,1,15,15,10).in_time_zone("Hawaii").as_json
# => "2005/02/01 05:15:10 -1000"
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 166
def as_json(options = nil)
  if ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding.use_standard_json_time_format
    xmlschema(ActiveSupport::JSON::Encoding.time_precision)
  else
    %(#{time.strftime("%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S")} #{formatted_offset(false)})
  end
end

Returns true if the current object’s time is within the specified min and max time.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 239
def between?(min, max)
  utc.between?(min, max)
end

An instance of ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone is never blank

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 515
def blank?
  false
end

Returns a new ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone where one or more of the elements have been changed according to the options parameter. The time options (:hour, :min, :sec, :usec, :nsec) reset cascadingly, so if only the hour is passed, then minute, sec, usec, and nsec is set to 0. If the hour and minute is passed, then sec, usec, and nsec is set to 0. The options parameter takes a hash with any of these keys: :year, :month, :day, :hour, :min, :sec, :usec, :nsec, :offset, :zone. Pass either :usec or :nsec, not both. Similarly, pass either :zone or :offset, not both.

t = Time.zone.now          # => Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:45:15.116992711 EST -05:00
t.change(year: 2020)       # => Tue, 14 Apr 2020 11:45:15.116992711 EST -05:00
t.change(hour: 12)         # => Fri, 14 Apr 2017 12:00:00.000000000 EST -05:00
t.change(min: 30)          # => Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:30:00.000000000 EST -05:00
t.change(offset: "-10:00") # => Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:45:15.116992711 HST -10:00
t.change(zone: "Hawaii")   # => Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:45:15.116992711 HST -10:00
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 390
def change(options)
  if options[:zone] && options[:offset]
    raise ArgumentError, "Can't change both :offset and :zone at the same time: #{options.inspect}"
  end

  new_time = time.change(options)

  if options[:zone]
    new_zone = ::Time.find_zone(options[:zone])
  elsif options[:offset]
    new_zone = ::Time.find_zone(new_time.utc_offset)
  end

  new_zone ||= time_zone
  periods = new_zone.periods_for_local(new_time)

  self.class.new(nil, new_zone, new_time, periods.include?(period) ? period : nil)
end

Alias for: utc.

Also aliased as: isdst.

Returns true if the current time is within Daylight Savings Time for the specified time zone.

Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'    # => 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'
Time.zone.parse("2012-5-30").dst?           # => true
Time.zone.parse("2012-11-30").dst?          # => false
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 94
def dst?
  period.dst?
end

Returns true if other is equal to current object.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 274
def eql?(other)
  other.eql?(utc)
end

Returns a formatted string of the offset from UTC, or an alternative string if the time zone is already UTC.

Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'   # => "Eastern Time (US & Canada)"
Time.zone.now.formatted_offset(true)       # => "-05:00"
Time.zone.now.formatted_offset(false)      # => "-0500"
Time.zone = 'UTC'                          # => "UTC"
Time.zone.now.formatted_offset(true, "0")  # => "0"
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 125
def formatted_offset(colon = true, alternate_utc_string = nil)
  utc? && alternate_utc_string || TimeZone.seconds_to_utc_offset(utc_offset, colon)
end
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 523
def freeze
  # preload instance variables before freezing
  period; utc; time; to_datetime; to_time
  super
end

Returns true if the current object’s time is in the future.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 269
def future?
  utc.future?
end

Alias for: utc.

Alias for: localtime.

Alias for: utc.

Alias for: utc?.

Alias for: utc_offset.

Alias for: utc.

Alias for: utc_offset.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 278
def hash
  utc.hash
end

Returns a string of the object’s date and time in the format used by HTTP requests.

Time.zone.now.httpdate  # => "Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:39:43 GMT"
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 186
def httpdate
  utc.httpdate
end

Alias for: +.

Returns the simultaneous time in Time.zone, or the specified zone.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 77
def in_time_zone(new_zone = ::Time.zone)
  return self if time_zone == new_zone
  utc.in_time_zone(new_zone)
end

Returns a string of the object’s date, time, zone, and offset from UTC.

Time.zone.now.inspect # => "2024-11-13 07:00:10.528054960 UTC +00:00"
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 140
def inspect
  "#{time.strftime('%F %H:%M:%S.%9N')} #{zone} #{formatted_offset}"
end

Also aliased as: kind_of?.

Say we’re a Time to thwart type checking.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 509
def is_a?(klass)
  klass == ::Time || super
end

Alias for: dst?.

Alias for: xmlschema.

Alias for: is_a?.

Also aliased as: getlocal.

Returns a Time instance of the simultaneous time in the system timezone.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 83
def localtime(utc_offset = nil)
  utc.getlocal(utc_offset)
end
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 529
def marshal_dump
  [utc, time_zone.name, time]
end
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 533
def marshal_load(variables)
  initialize(variables[0].utc, ::Time.find_zone(variables[1]), variables[2].utc)
end

Send the missing method to time instance, and wrap result in a new TimeWithZone with the existing time_zone.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 553
def method_missing(...)
  wrap_with_time_zone time.__send__(...)
rescue NoMethodError => e
  raise e, e.message.sub(time.inspect, inspect).sub("Time", "ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone"), e.backtrace
end

Alias for: tomorrow?.

Returns true if the current object’s time is in the past.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 244
def past?
  utc.past?
end

Returns the underlying TZInfo::TimezonePeriod.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 72
def period
  @period ||= time_zone.period_for_utc(@utc)
end

Alias for: yesterday?.

respond_to_missing? is not called in some cases, such as when type conversion is performed with Kernel#String

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 539
def respond_to?(sym, include_priv = false)
  # ensure that we're not going to throw and rescue from NoMethodError in method_missing which is slow
  return false if sym.to_sym == :to_str
  super
end

Ensure proxy class responds to all methods that underlying time instance responds to.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 547
def respond_to_missing?(sym, include_priv)
  time.respond_to?(sym, include_priv)
end

Also aliased as: rfc822.

Returns a string of the object’s date and time in the RFC 2822 standard format.

Time.zone.now.rfc2822  # => "Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:51:39 +0000"
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 194
def rfc2822
  to_fs(:rfc822)
end

Alias for: xmlschema.

Alias for: rfc2822.

Alias for: +.

Replaces %Z directive with +zone before passing to Time#strftime, so that zone information is correct.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 225
def strftime(format)
  format = format.gsub(/((?:\A|[^%])(?:%%)*)%Z/, "\\1#{zone}")
  getlocal(utc_offset).strftime(format)
end

Returns a Time instance that represents the time in time_zone.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 58
def time
  @time ||= incorporate_utc_offset(@utc, utc_offset)
end

Returns Array of parts of Time in sequence of [seconds, minutes, hours, day, month, year, weekday, yearday, dst?, zone].

now = Time.zone.now     # => Tue, 18 Aug 2015 02:29:27.485278555 UTC +00:00
now.to_a                # => [27, 29, 2, 18, 8, 2015, 2, 230, false, "UTC"]
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 453
def to_a
  [time.sec, time.min, time.hour, time.day, time.mon, time.year, time.wday, time.yday, dst?, zone]
end

Returns an instance of DateTime with the timezone’s UTC offset

Time.zone.now.to_datetime                         # => Tue, 18 Aug 2015 02:32:20 +0000
Time.current.in_time_zone('Hawaii').to_datetime   # => Mon, 17 Aug 2015 16:32:20 -1000
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 486
def to_datetime
  @to_datetime ||= utc.to_datetime.new_offset(Rational(utc_offset, 86_400))
end

Returns the object’s date and time as a floating-point number of seconds since the Epoch (January 1, 1970 00:00 UTC).

Time.zone.now.to_f # => 1417709320.285418
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 461
def to_f
  utc.to_f
end

Alias for: to_fs.

Also aliased as: to_formatted_s.

Returns a string of the object’s date and time.

This method is aliased to to_formatted_s.

Accepts an optional format:

  • :default - default value, mimics Ruby Time#to_s format.

  • :db - format outputs time in UTC :db time. See Time#to_fs(:db).

  • Any key in Time::DATE_FORMATS can be used. See active_support/core_ext/time/conversions.rb.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 212
def to_fs(format = :default)
  if format == :db
    utc.to_fs(format)
  elsif formatter = ::Time::DATE_FORMATS[format]
    formatter.respond_to?(:call) ? formatter.call(self).to_s : strftime(formatter)
  else
    to_s
  end
end

Also aliased as: tv_sec.

Returns the object’s date and time as an integer number of seconds since the Epoch (January 1, 1970 00:00 UTC).

Time.zone.now.to_i # => 1417709320
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 469
def to_i
  utc.to_i
end

Returns the object’s date and time as a rational number of seconds since the Epoch (January 1, 1970 00:00 UTC).

Time.zone.now.to_r # => (708854548642709/500000)
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 478
def to_r
  utc.to_r
end

Returns a string of the object’s date and time.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 200
def to_s
  "#{time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")} #{formatted_offset(false, 'UTC')}" # mimicking Ruby Time#to_s format
end

Returns an instance of Time, either with the same timezone as self, with the same UTC offset as self or in the local system timezone depending on the setting of ActiveSupport.to_time_preserves_timezone.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 493
def to_time
  if preserve_timezone == :zone
    @to_time_with_timezone ||= getlocal(time_zone)
  elsif preserve_timezone
    @to_time_with_instance_offset ||= getlocal(utc_offset)
  else
    @to_time_with_system_offset ||= getlocal
  end
end

Returns true if the current object’s time falls within the current day.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 250
def today?
  time.today?
end

Also aliased as: next_day?.

Returns true if the current object’s time falls within the next day (tomorrow).

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 256
def tomorrow?
  time.tomorrow?
end

Alias for: to_i.

Also aliased as: comparable_time, getgm, getutc, gmtime.

Returns a Time instance of the simultaneous time in the UTC timezone.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 63
def utc
  @utc ||= incorporate_utc_offset(@time, -utc_offset)
end

Also aliased as: gmt?.

Returns true if the current time zone is set to UTC.

Time.zone = 'UTC'                           # => 'UTC'
Time.zone.now.utc?                          # => true
Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'    # => 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'
Time.zone.now.utc?                          # => false
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 105
def utc?
  zone == "UTC" || zone == "UCT"
end

Also aliased as: gmt_offset, gmtoff.

Returns the offset from current time to UTC time in seconds.

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 111
def utc_offset
  period.observed_utc_offset
end

Also aliased as: iso8601, rfc3339.

Returns a string of the object’s date and time in the ISO 8601 standard format.

Time.zone.now.xmlschema  # => "2014-12-04T11:02:37-05:00"
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 148
def xmlschema(fraction_digits = 0)
  "#{time.strftime(PRECISIONS[fraction_digits.to_i])}#{formatted_offset(true, 'Z')}"
end

Also aliased as: prev_day?.

Returns true if the current object’s time falls within the previous day (yesterday).

Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 263
def yesterday?
  time.yesterday?
end

Returns the time zone abbreviation.

Time.zone = 'Eastern Time (US & Canada)'   # => "Eastern Time (US & Canada)"
Time.zone.now.zone # => "EST"
Source code GitHub
# File activesupport/lib/active_support/time_with_zone.rb, line 133
def zone
  period.abbreviation
end

Definition files