Difference between two dates in years, months, days in JavaScript

Question

I\'ve been searching for 4 hours now, and have not found a solution to get the difference between two dates in years, months, and days in JavaScript, like: 10th of April 201

Answer 1

For quick and easy use I wrote this function some time ago. It returns the diff between two dates in a nice format. Feel free to use it (tested on webkit).

/**
 * Function to print date diffs.
 * 
 * @param {Date} fromDate: The valid start date
 * @param {Date} toDate: The end date. Can be null (if so the function uses "now").
 * @param {Number} levels: The number of details you want to get out (1="in 2 Months",2="in 2 Months, 20 Days",...)
 * @param {Boolean} prefix: adds "in" or "ago" to the return string
 * @return {String} Diffrence between the two dates.
 */
function getNiceTime(fromDate, toDate, levels, prefix){
    var lang = {
            "date.past": "{0} ago",
            "date.future": "in {0}",
            "date.now": "now",
            "date.year": "{0} year",
            "date.years": "{0} years",
            "date.years.prefixed": "{0} years",
            "date.month": "{0} month",
            "date.months": "{0} months",
            "date.months.prefixed": "{0} months",
            "date.day": "{0} day",
            "date.days": "{0} days",
            "date.days.prefixed": "{0} days",
            "date.hour": "{0} hour",
            "date.hours": "{0} hours",
            "date.hours.prefixed": "{0} hours",
            "date.minute": "{0} minute",
            "date.minutes": "{0} minutes",
            "date.minutes.prefixed": "{0} minutes",
            "date.second": "{0} second",
            "date.seconds": "{0} seconds",
            "date.seconds.prefixed": "{0} seconds",
        },
        langFn = function(id,params){
            var returnValue = lang[id] || "";
            if(params){
                for(var i=0;i 0){
        var langSingle = "date.year" + (prefix ? "" : ""),
            langMultiple = "date.years" + (prefix ? ".prefixed" : "");
        returnString += (count > 0 ?  ', ' : '') + (years > 1 ? langFn(langMultiple,[years]) : langFn(langSingle,[years]));
        count ++;
    }
    var months = date.getMonth();
    if(count < levels && months > 0){
        var langSingle = "date.month" + (prefix ? "" : ""),
            langMultiple = "date.months" + (prefix ? ".prefixed" : "");
        returnString += (count > 0 ?  ', ' : '') + (months > 1 ? langFn(langMultiple,[months]) : langFn(langSingle,[months]));
        count ++;
    } else {
        if(count > 0)
            count = 99;
    }
    var days = date.getDate() - 1;
    if(count < levels && days > 0){
        var langSingle = "date.day" + (prefix ? "" : ""),
            langMultiple = "date.days" + (prefix ? ".prefixed" : "");
        returnString += (count > 0 ?  ', ' : '') + (days > 1 ? langFn(langMultiple,[days]) : langFn(langSingle,[days]));
        count ++;
    } else {
        if(count > 0)
            count = 99;
    }
    var hours = date.getHours();
    if(count < levels && hours > 0){
        var langSingle = "date.hour" + (prefix ? "" : ""),
            langMultiple = "date.hours" + (prefix ? ".prefixed" : "");
        returnString += (count > 0 ?  ', ' : '') + (hours > 1 ? langFn(langMultiple,[hours]) : langFn(langSingle,[hours]));
        count ++;
    } else {
        if(count > 0)
            count = 99;
    }
    var minutes = date.getMinutes();
    if(count < levels && minutes > 0){
        var langSingle = "date.minute" + (prefix ? "" : ""),
            langMultiple = "date.minutes" + (prefix ? ".prefixed" : "");
        returnString += (count > 0 ?  ', ' : '') + (minutes > 1 ? langFn(langMultiple,[minutes]) : langFn(langSingle,[minutes]));
        count ++;
    } else {
        if(count > 0)
            count = 99;
    }
    var seconds = date.getSeconds();
    if(count < levels && seconds > 0){
        var langSingle = "date.second" + (prefix ? "" : ""),
            langMultiple = "date.seconds" + (prefix ? ".prefixed" : "");
        returnString += (count > 0 ?  ', ' : '') + (seconds > 1 ? langFn(langMultiple,[seconds]) : langFn(langSingle,[seconds]));
        count ++;
    } else {
        if(count > 0)
            count = 99;
    }
    if(prefix){
        if(returnString == ""){
            returnString = langFn("date.now");
        } else if(past)
            returnString = langFn("date.past",[returnString]);
        else
            returnString = langFn("date.future",[returnString]);
    }
    return returnString;
}