Rails 8.2 adds this_week?, this_month?, and this_year? to Date and Time
· 3 min read
ActiveSupport already has today?, yesterday?, and tomorrow? on Date and Time. Rails 8.2 adds the next logical set: this_week?, this_month?, and this_year?.
Before
Checking whether a date falls within the current week, month, or year required range comparisons:
# Is this order from the current week?
order.placed_at.between?(Time.current.beginning_of_week, Time.current.end_of_week)
# Is this subscription expiring this month?
subscription.expires_on.between?(Date.current.beginning_of_month, Date.current.end_of_month)
# Is this event happening this year?
event.date.year == Date.current.year
Each check is readable enough on its own, but they add up quickly in controllers and views where you are branching on date ranges.
Rails 8.2
PR #55770 introduces three new predicate methods on Date and Time:
order.placed_at.this_week? # true if within the current week
subscription.expires_on.this_month? # true if within the current month
event.date.this_year? # true if within the current year
They follow the same pattern as the existing predicates:
Date.current.this_week? # => true
Date.current.this_month? # => true
Date.current.this_year? # => true
Date.yesterday.this_week? # => true (yesterday is still this week, usually)
Date.current.next_month.this_month? # => false
In controllers
def index
@orders = Order.all
@this_week_orders = @orders.select { |o| o.placed_at.this_week? }
@this_month_orders = @orders.select { |o| o.placed_at.this_month? }
end
In views
<% if subscription.expires_on.this_month? %>
<div class="warning">Your subscription expires this month.</div>
<% end %>
<% if report.generated_at.this_week? %>
<span class="badge">Recent</span>
<% end %>
In scopes
class Order < ApplicationRecord
scope :placed_this_week, -> { where(placed_at: Time.current.beginning_of_week..Time.current.end_of_week) }
scope :placed_this_month, -> { where(placed_at: Time.current.beginning_of_month..Time.current.end_of_month) }
end
The predicate methods on instances complement these scopes when working with already-loaded records.
How to change the week boundary
this_week? uses Monday as the start of the week by default, consistent with ActiveSupport’s beginning_of_week. If your application configures a different week start, that is respected:
Date.beginning_of_week = :sunday
Date.current.beginning_of_week # => last Sunday
Conclusion
this_week?, this_month?, and this_year? are small additions that remove a common category of boilerplate. They complete the set of readable date predicates that ActiveSupport has offered since Rails 3.
