CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyregexvalidation
Derek
Derek

Reputation: 23

Validate User Date Input in Ruby

I am trying to validate proper date input in my ruby script.

When I run the script it just asks for the date twice no matter if it is correct or not.

Could someone please tell me where I went wrong?

def get_date(prompt="What is the date of the last scan (YYYYMMDD)")
    new_regex = /\A[0-9]{4}[0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]\z/
    print prompt
    gets.chomp
    if prompt != new_regex
        puts "Please enter the date in the correct format"
        print prompt
        gets.chomp
    end
end

Upvotes: 2

Views: 269

Answers (1)

Josh Brody
Josh Brody

Reputation: 5363

Your code, as it is, is trying to compare the likeness of the prompt to the regex pattern.

/\A[0-9]{4}[0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]\z/ === /\A[0-9]{4}[0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]\z/ is true.

Your input is also not being captured, and thus not compared to the regex.

def get_date(prompt="What is the date of the last scan")
  new_regex = /\A[0-9]{4}[0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]\z/
  print prompt + " (YYYYMMDD)"
  input = gets.chomp
  unless (input =~ new_regex) == 0 
    puts "Please enter the date in the correct format"
    get_date(prompt)
  end
  input 
end

input =~ new_regex will be nil (false) if there's no match.

(ps Rubyists like two spaces)

Upvotes: 0

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