A simple Ruby natural language parser for date and time ranges. (For example, Mon-Fri 09:00-16:30, etc.) Returns a boolean result.

Several date and time ranges can be supplied with matching patterns being separated by a comma.

$ sudo gem sources -a http://gemcutter.org
$ sudo gem install chronic_between

>> s = 'Mon-Fri 9:00-16:30, Saturday, Sunday'
>> c = ChronicBetween.new(s)

>> DateTime.now      
=> #<DateTime: 2011-03-26T16:54:40+00:00

>> c.within? DateTime.now
=> true

>> c.within? DateTime.parse("28-Mar-2011 14:33")
=> true

>> c.within? DateTime.parse("28-Mar-2011 08:33")
=> false

Examples of parse-able strings:

• ‘Mon-Fri 9:00-16:30’

• ‘saturday’

• ‘12:00-13:00’

• ‘Sat,Sun’

• ‘Mon-Fri 9:00-16:30, Saturday, Sunday’

• ‘Mon-Fri 9:00-16:30, Saturday, 10:15-10:45’

• ‘Sat 18:15-21:40’

• ‘Mon-Wed’

• ‘Mon-Fri 9:00 to 16:30’

• ‘9:00-16:30 Mon-Fri’

• ‘9:00 to 16:30 Mon-Fri’

• ‘3:45 to 5:15’

• ‘Mon 3:45 to 5:15’

• ‘3:45-5:15 Mon’

• ‘3:45 to 5:15 Mon’

• ‘after 6pm’

• ‘before 9pm’

• ‘April 2nd - April 5th 12:00-14:00’

• ‘April 5th - April 9th’

• ‘April 5th’

• ‘not before 6pm’

• ‘except after 6pm’

• ‘Sunday, after 6pm’

• ‘Saturday, not after 6pm’