Question

I would like to have a string like "The time is #{hours}:#{minutes}", so that hours and minutes is always zero-padded (2 digits). How can I do it please?

Answer 1

You could use time formatting: Time#strftime

t1 = Time.now
t2 = Time.new(2012, 12, 12)
t1.strftime "The time is %H:%M" # => "The time is 16:18"
t2.strftime "The time is %H:%M" # => "The time is 00:00"

Alternatively, you can use string formatting using the ‘%’ format operator

t1 = Time.now
t2 = Time.new(2012, 12, 12)
"The time is %02d:%02d" % [t1.hour, t1.min] # => "The time is 16:18"
"The time is %02d:%02d" % [t2.hour, t2.min] # => "The time is 00:00"