fiddling.rb

require 'date'
2.0.0p353 :001 > require 'date'
 => true 
2.0.0p353 :002 > date_str = "Mon., Feb. 10, 8 p.m"
 => "Mon., Feb. 10, 8 p.m" 
2.0.0p353 :003 > DateTime.strptime(date_str, "%a., %b. %e, %l %P") 
ArgumentError: invalid date
	from (irb):3:in `strptime'
	from (irb):3
	from /Users/johno/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p353/bin/irb:12:in `<main>'
2.0.0p353 :004 > DateTime.strptime(date_str, "%a., %b. %e,") 
 => #<DateTime: 2014-02-10T00:00:00+00:00 ((2456699j,0s,0n),+0s,2299161j)> 
2.0.0p353 :005 > d = DateTime.strptime(date_str, "%a., %b. %e,") 
 => #<DateTime: 2014-02-10T00:00:00+00:00 ((2456699j,0s,0n),+0s,2299161j)> 
2.0.0p353 :006 > d.day
 => 10 
2.0.0p353 :007 > d.month
 => 2 
2.0.0p353 :008 > d.hour
 => 0 
2.0.0p353 :009 > 

more_fiddling.rb

~|||$ irb
2.0.0p353 :001 > require 'date'
 => true 
2.0.0p353 :002 > date_str = "Mon., Feb. 10, 8 p.m"
 => "Mon., Feb. 10, 8 p.m" 
2.0.0p353 :003 > d = DateTime.strptime(date_str.split(/./).join(''), "%a, %b %e, %l %P")
ArgumentError: invalid date
	from (irb):3:in `strptime'
	from (irb):3
	from /Users/johno/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p353/bin/irb:12:in `<main>'
2.0.0p353 :004 > d = DateTime.strptime(date_str.split('.').join(''), "%a, %b %e, %l %P")
 => #<DateTime: 2014-02-10T20:00:00+00:00 ((2456699j,72000s,0n),+0s,2299161j)> 
2.0.0p353 :005 > d.hour
 => 20 
2.0.0p353 :006 > exit
~|||$