DateTime formatting problem

PerlSufi has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello Monks, I have a problem formatting my dates with DateTime module. This code:

use DateTime;
use Date::Format;


my $one_month_ago = DateTime->today->subtract(months => 1);
print $one_month_ago = DateTime->last_day_of_month(
   month => $one_month_ago->month,
    year  => $one_month_ago->year,
)->strftime("%m%d%y");



my $start_date = DateTime->today->subtract( months => 1);
print $start_date->strftime("%m%d%y");
[download]

returns the date in the formats that I want. (MMDDYY)
This code that I have with mechanize entering the information in fields on a website, however, gives me the start date as MMDDYYT00:00:00.

my $start_date = DateTime->today->subtract( months => 1);
$start_date->strftime("%m%d%y");
print $start_date;
my $end_date = DateTime->today->subtract(months => 1);
$end_date = DateTime->last_day_of_month(
    month => $end_date->month,
    year  => $end_date->year,
 )->strftime("%m%d%y");
print $end_date;



#This block of code is intended to fill in the required forms
$mech->get("https://caps.usps.gov/ssl_caps/caps_ai.asp");
my $usr = "asdf";
my $pw = "asdf";
$mech->form_number(1);
$mech->field( "capsn", $usr);
$mech->form_number(2);
$mech->field("capsp", $pw);
$mech->form_number(3);
$mech->field( "startdate", $start_date);
$mech->form_number(4);
$mech->field( "enddate", $end_date);
$mech->form_number(5);
$mech->select("format", "2");
$mech->click();
[download]

Why is this happening? Thanks in advance for your input..

Comment on DateTime formatting problem Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: DateTime formatting problem by moritz (Cardinal) on Apr 30, 2013 at 17:59 UTC
`$start_date->strftime("%m%d%y"); print $start_date;` [download] strftime does not modify the invocant (`$start_date`) in any way. Rather it returns a string that is the result of formatting the invocant. Since you throw away the result of calling `->strftime`, and then print `$start_date` again in the next line, I guess you haven't fully understood this principle. So the answer is to work with the return value of the `->strftime` call, not with the original object. Perl 6 - the future is here, just unevenly distributed	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: DateTime formatting problem by PerlSufi (Friar) on Apr 30, 2013 at 18:07 UTC
Thanks. So on the first (tomorrow) it should return my start date as 040113 and my end date as 043013, right?	[reply]
Re: DateTime formatting problem by PerlSufi (Friar) on Apr 30, 2013 at 17:54 UTC
I found that changing `my $start_date = DateTime->today->subtract( months => 1); $start_date->strftime("%m%d%y");` [download] to `my $start_date = DateTime->today->subtract( months => 1)->strftime("%m +%d%y");` [download] worked..	[reply] [d/l] [select]