Rails DateTime date from string -> invalid date

Question

I'm currently working on a rails project and I need to create a DateTime object from a string.

Currently I have the following code:

datetime = DateTime.strptime(items[0] << 'T' << items[1], '%d.%m.%YT%H:%M:%S')

The string created by items[0] << 'T' << items[1] is for example 25.01.2012T18:25:47

But the I get the following error message "invalid date"

If I print the string to the rails server console it seems to be correct and if I replace "items[0] << 'T' << items[1]" with a valid string in the strptime method (eg 25.01.2012T18:25:47) it works, but I have no idea why the conversion to a DateTime object fails if i use the concatinated string...

Does anyone got an idea?

Best regards

Answer 1

You can try (items[0] << 'T' << items[1]).to_datetime . It will give an object in DateTime format.