How to use the ruby time function in a method (if statement)?

Question

Hi I'm doing this question and it is not passing the automated tests and would love to know where i'm going wrong? Many thanks.

question: The hello function Should return (not puts) 'Good morning!' between 09:00 and 12:00 and 'Good afternoon!' between 12:00 and 16:00 and 'Hello!' at all other times

def hello
    t = Time 
    if t = (0900..1200)
        return 'Good morning!'
    elsif t = (1201..1600)
        return 'Good afternoon!'
    else
        return "Hello!"
    end
    
end
hello 

Answer 1

This looks like an assignment so I'll do my best to not just give the answer. There are a few misconceptions in your code and incorrect statements causing it to behave the way it is.

t = Time assigns the class Time to t, it does not generate a time. You can use irb or even on online REPL to learn more information about what a variable holds in realtime.

t = Time
t       #=> Time
t.class #=> Class
 

You should look into the ruby Time class, you'll be interested in the methods #new, #now, and potentially #parse.

Your if statement is not checking equality, it's assigning a range of integers to t. A range is a truthy value, so if the code ran the first conditionally would always be true. The range syntax is incorrect, the leading zero makes ruby think this number is an Octal, which only supports digits 0-7.

t = (0900..1200) #=> Error, it thinks 0900 is an invalid Octal
t = (900..1200)
t                #=> 900..1200
t.class          #=> Range

For this area you'll want to get more familiar with the difference between = assignment, and == equality. It's also worth noting that integers and time are different classes, so you cannot compare a raw time with a range of integers.

Fixing the time generation and time comparison should get you on the right path for passing tests.