There is this really nice function from the php.net documentation that enables you to format time in a Facebook-style manner (e.g., 2 minutes ago
, 4 weeks ago
, or 3 years ago
).
However, I prefer the way Stackoverflow and Apple Mail does it which is generally as follows:
- The current day is listed in
x seconds ago
orx hours ago
or time (e.g,4:35pm
). - Yesterday is listed as "Yesterday".
- All days after that are listed by M/D/Y.
Has anyone adapted this php.net script to do this or might share a different script that accomplishes the same goal?
<?php
function nicetime($date)
{
if(empty($date)) {
return "No date provided";
}
$periods = array("second", "minute", "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year", "decade");
$lengths = array("60","60","24","7","4.35","12","10");
$now = time();
$unix_date = strtotime($date);
// check validity of date
if(empty($unix_date)) {
return "Bad date";
}
// is it future date or past date
if($now > $unix_date) {
$difference = $now - $unix_date;
$tense = "ago";
} else {
$difference = $unix_date - $now;
$tense = "from now";
}
for($j = 0; $difference >= $lengths[$j] && $j < count($lengths)-1; $j++) {
$difference /= $lengths[$j];
}
$difference = round($difference);
if($difference != 1) {
$periods[$j].= "s";
}
return "$difference $periods[$j] {$tense}";
}
$date = "2009-03-04 17:45";
$result = nicetime($date); // 2 days ago
?>