change Php date in days ago

Question

I am using a component on Joumla that returns dates in this format: 2 months and 6 days ago. But I need the date to be displayed like this: xx seconds ago or xx minutes ago or

Answer 1

This is an adaptation of Date_HumanDiff class

    date_default_timezone_set('GMT');

    function getDifference($timestamp, $reference = null) {
        static $MINUTE = 60;
        static $HOUR   = 3600;    //static::$MINUTE * 60
        static $DAY    = 86400;   //static::$HOUR * 24
        static $WEEK   = 604800;  //static::$DAY * 7
        static $MONTH  = 2628000; //static::$YEAR / 12
        static $YEAR   = 31536000;//static::$DAY * 365

        $formats = array(
            array(0.7 * $MINUTE, '%d seconds ago', 1),
            array(1.5 * $MINUTE, 'a minute ago',   1),
            array( 60 * $MINUTE, '%d minutes ago', $MINUTE),
            array(1.5 * $HOUR,   'an hour ago',    1),
            array(      $DAY,    '%d hours ago',   $HOUR),
            array(  2 * $DAY,    'yesterday',      1),
            array(  7 * $DAY,    '%d days ago',    $DAY),
            array(1.5 * $WEEK,   'a week ago',     1),
            array(      $MONTH,  '%d weeks ago',   $WEEK),
            array(1.5 * $MONTH,  'a month ago',    1),
            array(      $YEAR,   '%d months ago',  $MONTH),
            array(1.5 * $YEAR,   'a year ago',     1),
            array(PHP_INT_MAX,   '%d years ago',   $YEAR)
        );

        $futureformats = array(
            array(0.7 * $MINUTE, 'in a moment',   -1),
            array(1.5 * $MINUTE, 'in a minute',   -1),
            array( 60 * $MINUTE, 'in %d minutes', -$MINUTE),
            array(1.5 * $HOUR,   'in an hour',    -1),
            array(      $DAY,    'in %d hours',   -$HOUR),
            array(  2 * $DAY,    'tomorrow',      -1),
            array(  7 * $DAY,    'in %d days',    -$DAY),
            array(1.5 * $WEEK,   'in a week',     -1),
            array(      $MONTH,  'in %d weeks',   -$WEEK),
            array(1.5 * $MONTH,  'in a month',    -1),
            array(      $YEAR,   'in %d months',  -$MONTH),
            array(1.5 * $YEAR,   'in a year',     -1),
            array(PHP_INT_MAX,   'in %d years',   -$YEAR)
        );


        if ($reference === null) {
            $reference = time();
        }

        $timestamp = ($timestamp instanceof DateTime) ? $timestamp->getTimestamp() : (is_numeric($timestamp) ? (int)$timestamp : strtotime($timestamp));
        $reference = ($reference instanceof DateTime) ? $reference->getTimestamp() : (is_numeric($reference) ? (int)$reference : strtotime($reference));

        $delta = $reference - $timestamp;

        if ($delta >= 0) {
            foreach ($formats as $format) {
                if ($delta < $format[0]) {
                    return sprintf($format[1], round($delta / $format[2]));
                }
            };
        } else {
            foreach ($futureformats as $format) {
                if (-$delta < $format[0]) {
                    return sprintf($format[1], round($delta / $format[2]));
                }
            };

        }
    }

    // will output 52 minutes ago
    echo getDifference('2014-01-15 15:24:00', '2014-01-15 16:16:12') . PHP_EOL;

    // without second param will output difference with the current time
    echo getDifference('2014-01-15 15:24:00') . PHP_EOL;