About Time difference function with PHP

Today we will have a look at a function that allows us to determine the time difference between the given time stamp and the current time resulting in 'seconds' 'minutes' 'days' 'weeks' and 'years ago'. We will start with the new function definition which takes one parameter represented by the time stamp. The first condition inside of the function will check if the given time is not empty to allow us proceed with the request: function timeAgo($time = null) { if (!empty($time)) { } } Inside of the first if statement we are going to now deduct the given time from the current time and create two extra variables to store the relevant output of the returned values: $seconds = time() - $time; $how_many = null; $of_what = null Now to the first conditional block which takes time difference under one minute: // less than 1 minute if ($seconds < 60) { $how_many = $seconds; if ($seconds 0) { $how_many = "just now"; } else if ($seconds 1) { $of_what = "second ago"; } else { $of_what = "seconds ago"; } } First we check if the $seconds variable which contains the time difference is less than 60 seconds and if so we assign it to the $how_many variable. If $seconds is equal 0 that means that the event has just occurred therefore we assign just now to the $how_many variable and we ignore the $of_what variable which by default is set to null . Otherwise if the time difference is equal one second we assign the second ago and if it's more seconds ago to the $of_what variable After seconds we need to have a look at minutes up to 1 hour: // between one minute and one hour } elseif ($seconds > 60 && $seconds < 3600) { $how_many = floor($seconds/60); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "minute ago"; } else { $of_what = "minutes ago"; } } The new elseif statement checks whether the time difference is between one minute (60 seconds) and one hour (3600 seconds). If it falls within this range we use the floor function to get the lowest rounded value of the division between time difference and one minute (60 seconds). After this we simply check if the result equals 1 and if so then we simply assign minute ago to the $of_what variable otherwise it is minutes ago . Next in line is one hour up to 1 day: // between one hour and 24 hours } elseif ($seconds > 3600 && $seconds < 86400) { $how_many = floor($seconds/3600); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "hour ago"; } else { $of_what = "hours ago"; } } The same way as before we first check whether the time difference represented by the $seconds variable falls within the range of 3600 and 86400 seconds (1 hour and 24 hours) and if it returns true then we round the time difference by 1 hour and assign it's value to the $how_many and the relevant string to the $of_what variables. Now we need to look at the 1 day to 1 week range: // between 1 day and 1 week (7 days) } elseif ($seconds > 86400 && $seconds < 604800) { $how_many = floor($seconds/86400); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "day ago"; } else { $of_what = "days ago"; } } Again first we check whether the time difference fits within the 1 day and 1 week range - then simply round the value divided by number of seconds that give us 1 day and assign the right values to the variables. The next range is between one week and one month. Now for the month we take an approximate value of 2629743 which is a division of 31556926 seconds in a year divided by 12 months. // betwen 1 week and 1 month approximately // taking there are 31556926 seconds in a year // divided by 12 months } elseif ($seconds > 604800 && $seconds < 2629743) { $how_many = floor($seconds/604800); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "week ago"; } else { $of_what = "weeks ago"; } } The next two ranges are between 1 month and 1 year and 1 year upwards: // betwen 1 month and 1 year (24 months) } elseif ($seconds > 2629743 && $seconds < 31556926) { $how_many = floor($seconds/2629743); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "month ago"; } else { $of_what = "months ago"; } // from 1 year upwards } elseif ($seconds > 31556926) { $how_many = floor($seconds/31556926); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "year ago"; } else { $of_what = "years ago"; } } Now that our ranges are defined all we need to do to complete our function is to return the collected values: return 'Posted '.$how_many.' '.$of_what Our entire function should now look like this: function timeAgo($time = null) { if (!empty($time)) { $seconds = time() - $time; $how_many = null; $of_what = null; // less than 1 minute if ($seconds < 60) { $how_many = $seconds; if ($seconds 0) { $how_many = "just now"; } else if ($seconds 1) { $of_what = "second ago"; } else { $of_what = "seconds ago"; } // between one minute and one hour } elseif ($seconds > 60 && $seconds < 3600) { $how_many = floor($seconds/60); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "minute ago"; } else { $of_what = "minutes ago"; } // between one hour and 24 hours } elseif ($seconds > 3600 && $seconds < 86400) { $how_many = floor($seconds/3600); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "hour ago"; } else { $of_what = "hours ago"; } // between 1 day and 1 week (7 days) } elseif ($seconds > 86400 && $seconds < 604800) { $how_many = floor($seconds/86400); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "day ago"; } else { $of_what = "days ago"; } // betwen 1 week and 1 month approximately // taking there are 31556926 seconds in a year // divided by 12 months } elseif ($seconds > 604800 && $seconds < 2629743) { $how_many = floor($seconds/604800); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "week ago"; } else { $of_what = "weeks ago"; } // betwen 1 month and 1 year (24 months) } elseif ($seconds > 2629743 && $seconds < 31556926) { $how_many = floor($seconds/2629743); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "month ago"; } else { $of_what = "months ago"; } // from 1 year upwards } elseif ($seconds > 31556926) { $how_many = floor($seconds/31556926); if ($how_many 1) { $of_what = "year ago"; } else { $of_what = "years ago"; } } return 'Posted '.$how_many.' '.$of_what; } } To test it you can pass the value as the timestamp or simply convert your standards datetime value using strtotime() function like so: echo timeAgo(strtotime('2011-09-10 00:00:00')) Add a comment Name: * Email: * Website: Twitter: Comment (no html allowed): * Add Comment