PHP How to find the time elapsed since a date time

Question

How to find the time elapsed since a date time stamp like 2010-04-28 17 25 43  final out put text should be like xx Minutes Ago xx Days Ago

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I liked Mithun s code  but I tweaked it a bit to make it give more reasonable answers   function getTimeSince  eventTime         totaldelay   time   - strtotime  eventTime       if  totaldelay  lt   0                return               else                first                marker   0          if  years floor  totaldelay 31536000                          totaldelay    totaldelay   31536000               plural                   if   years  gt  1   plural  s                interval    years   year   plural               timesince    timesince  first  interval              if   marker  return  timesince               marker   1               first                           if  months floor  totaldelay 2628000                          totaldelay    totaldelay   2628000               plural                   if   months  gt  1   plural  s                interval    months   month   plural               timesince    timesince  first  interval              if   marker  return  timesince               marker   1               first                           if  days floor  totaldelay 86400                          totaldelay    totaldelay   86400               plural                   if   days  gt  1   plural  s                interval    days   day   plural               timesince    timesince  first  interval              if   marker  return  timesince               marker   1               first                           if   marker  return  timesince          if  hours floor  totaldelay 3600                          totaldelay    totaldelay   3600               plural                   if   hours  gt  1   plural  s                interval    hours   hour   plural               timesince    timesince  first  interval              if   marker  return  timesince               marker   1               first                            if  minutes floor  totaldelay 60                          totaldelay    totaldelay   60               plural                   if   minutes  gt  1   plural  s                interval    minutes   minute   plural               timesince    timesince  first  interval              if   marker  return  timesince               first                           if  seconds floor  totaldelay 1                          totaldelay    totaldelay   1               plural                   if   seconds  gt  1   plural  s                interval    seconds   second   plural               timesince    timesince  first  interval                            return  timesince

User · Answer

I think I have a function which should do what you want   function time2string  timeline         periods   array  day    gt  86400   hour    gt  3600   minute    gt  60   second    gt  1        foreach  periods AS  name   gt   seconds            num   floor  timeline    seconds            timeline -    num    seconds            ret     num      name    num  gt  1     s                        return trim  ret       Simply apply it to the difference between time   and strtotime  2010-04-28 17 25 43   as so   print time2string time  -strtotime  2010-04-28 17 25 43      ago

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Be warned  the majority of the mathematically calculated examples have a hard limit of 2038-01-18 dates and will not work with fictional dates   As there was a lack of DateTime and DateInterval based examples  I wanted to provide a multi-purpose function that satisfies the OP s need and others wanting compound elapsed periods  such as 1 month 2 days ago  Along with a bunch of other use cases  such as a limit to display the date instead of the elapsed time  or to filter out portions of the elapsed time result    Additionally the majority of the examples assume elapsed is from the current time  where the below function allows for it to be overridden with the desired end date          multi-purpose function to calculate the time elapsed between  start and optional  end     param string null  start the date string to start calculation     param string null  end the date string to end calculation     param string  suffix the suffix string to include in the calculated string     param string  format the format of the resulting date if limit is reached or no periods were found     param string  separator the separator between periods to use when filter is not true     param null string  limit date string to stop calculations on and display the date if reached - ex  1 month     param bool array  filter false to display all periods  true to display first period matching the minimum  or array of periods to display   year    month       param int  minimum the minimum value needed to include a period     return string     function elapsedTimeString  start   end   null   limit   null   filter   true   suffix    ago    format    Y-m-d    separator         minimum   1         dates    object  array           start    gt  new DateTime  start      now             end    gt  new DateTime  end      now             intervals    gt  array  y    gt   year    m    gt   month    d    gt   day    h    gt   hour    i    gt   minute    s    gt   second             periods    gt  array               elapsed    object  array           interval    gt   dates- gt start- gt diff  dates- gt end            unknown    gt   unknown             if   elapsed- gt interval- gt invert     1            return trim  0 seconds      suffix             if  false     empty  limit              dates- gt limit   new DateTime  limit           if  date create  - gt add  elapsed- gt interval   gt   dates- gt limit                return  dates- gt start- gt format  format       elapsed- gt unknown                      if  true     is array  filter              dates- gt intervals   array intersect  dates- gt intervals   filter            filter   false            foreach   dates- gt intervals as  period   gt   name             value    elapsed- gt interval- gt  period          if   value  gt    minimum                 dates- gt periods     vsprintf   1 s  2 s 3 s   array  value   name    value     1    s                       if  true      filter                    break                                    if  false     empty  dates- gt periods             return trim vsprintf   1 s  2 s   array implode  separator   dates- gt periods    suffix                return  dates- gt start- gt format  format       elapsed- gt unknown      One thing to note - the retrieved intervals for the supplied filter values do not carry over to the next period  The filter merely displays the resulting value of the supplied periods and does not recalculate the periods to display only the desired filter total     Usage  For the OP s need of displaying the highest period  as of 2015-02-24    echo elapsedTimeString  2010-04-26        4 years ago      To display compound periods and supply a custom end date  note the lack of time supplied and fictional dates    echo elapsedTimeString  1920-01-01    2500-02-24   null  false       580 years 1 month 23 days ago      To display the result of filtered periods  ordering of array doesn t matter    echo elapsedTimeString  2010-05-26    2012-02-24   null    month    year         1 year 8 months ago      To display the start date in the supplied format  default Y-m-d  if the limit is reached   echo elapsedTimeString  2010-05-26    2012-02-24    1 year        2010-05-26      There are bunch of other use cases  It can also easily be adapted to accept unix timestamps and or DateInterval objects for the start  end  or limit arguments

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Had to do this recently - hope this helps someone  It doesn t cater for every possibility  but met my needs for a project   https   github com duncanheron twitter date format  https   github com duncanheron twitter date format blob master twitter date format php

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To find out time elapsed i usually use time   instead of date   and formatted time stamps  Then get the difference between the latter value and the earlier value and format accordingly   time   is differently not a replacement for date   but it totally helps when calculating elapsed time   example   The value of time   looks something like this 1274467343 increments every second   So you could have  erlierTime with value 1274467343 and  latterTime with value 1274467500  then just do  latterTime -  erlierTime to get time elapsed in seconds

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Improvisation to the function  humanTiming  by arnorhs  It would calculate a  fully stretched  translation of time string to human readable text version  For example to say it like  1 week 2 days 1 hour 28 minutes 14 seconds   function humantime   oldtime   newtime   null   returnarray   false           if   newtime   newtime   time         time    newtime -  oldtime     to get the time since that moment      tokens   array               31536000   gt   year               2592000   gt   month               604800   gt   week               86400   gt   day               3600   gt   hour               60   gt   minute               1   gt   second              htarray   array        foreach   tokens as  unit   gt   text                if   time  lt   unit  continue               numberOfUnits   floor  time    unit                htarray  text     numberOfUnits      text    numberOfUnits gt 1   s                    time    time -    unit    numberOfUnits              if  returnarray  return  htarray      return implode       htarray

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Try one of these repos   https   github com salavert time-ago-in-words  https   github com jimmiw php-time-ago  I just started using the latter  does the trick  but no stackoverflow-style fallback on exact date when the date in question is too far away  nor is there support for future dates - and the API is a little funky  but at least it works seemingly flawlessly and is maintained

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You can get a function for this directly form WordPress core files take a look here   http   core trac wordpress org browser tags 3 6 wp-includes formatting php L2121  function human time diff   from   to              if   empty   to              to   time          diff    int  abs   to -  from         if    diff  lt  HOUR IN SECONDS              mins   round   diff   MINUTE IN SECONDS            if    mins  lt   1                mins   1             translators  min minute             since   sprintf   n    s min     s mins    mins     mins          elseif    diff  lt  DAY IN SECONDS  amp  amp   diff  gt   HOUR IN SECONDS              hours   round   diff   HOUR IN SECONDS            if    hours  lt   1                hours   1           since   sprintf   n    s hour     s hours    hours     hours          elseif    diff  lt  WEEK IN SECONDS  amp  amp   diff  gt   DAY IN SECONDS              days   round   diff   DAY IN SECONDS            if    days  lt   1                days   1           since   sprintf   n    s day     s days    days     days          elseif    diff  lt  30   DAY IN SECONDS  amp  amp   diff  gt   WEEK IN SECONDS              weeks   round   diff   WEEK IN SECONDS            if    weeks  lt   1                weeks   1           since   sprintf   n    s week     s weeks    weeks     weeks          elseif    diff  lt  YEAR IN SECONDS  amp  amp   diff  gt   30   DAY IN SECONDS              months   round   diff     30   DAY IN SECONDS              if    months  lt   1                months   1           since   sprintf   n    s month     s months    months     months          elseif    diff  gt   YEAR IN SECONDS              years   round   diff   YEAR IN SECONDS            if    years  lt   1                years   1           since   sprintf   n    s year     s years    years     years               return  since

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Here I am using custom function for finding the time elapsed since a date time     echo Datetodays  2013-7-26 17 01 10     function Datetodays  d              date start    d           date end   date  Y-m-d H i s             define  SECOND   1           define  MINUTE   SECOND   60           define  HOUR   MINUTE   60           define  DAY   HOUR   24           define  WEEK   DAY   7             t1   strtotime  date start            t2   strtotime  date end           if   t1    t2                 diffrence    t1 -  t2            else                diffrence    t2 -  t1                       echo     date end       date start       diffrence           results  major     array       whole number representing larger number in date time relationship          results1   array             string                 results  major    weeks     floor  diffrence   WEEK            results  major    days     floor  diffrence   DAY            results  major    hours     floor  diffrence   HOUR            results  major    minutes     floor  diffrence   MINUTE            results  major    seconds     floor  diffrence   SECOND              print r  results              Logic             Step 1  Take the major result and transform it into raw seconds  it will be less the number of seconds of the difference             ex   result     results  major    weeks   WEEK             Step 2  Subtract smaller number  the result  from the difference  total time             ex   minor result    difference -  result            Step 3  Take the resulting time in seconds and convert it to the minor format            ex  floor  minor result DAY            results1  weeks     floor  diffrence   WEEK            results1  days     floor    diffrence -   results  major    weeks     WEEK     DAY             results1  hours     floor    diffrence -   results  major    days     DAY     HOUR             results1  minutes     floor    diffrence -   results  major    hours     HOUR     MINUTE             results1  seconds     floor    diffrence -   results  major    minutes     MINUTE     SECOND               print r  results1            if   results1  weeks      0     results1  days      0                if   results1  weeks      1                     string    results1  weeks       week ago                 else                   if   results1  weeks      2                         string    results1  weeks       weeks ago                     else                        string    2 weeks ago                                             elseif   results1  weeks      0     results1  days      0                if   results1  weeks      1                     string    results1  weeks       week ago                 else                   if   results1  weeks      2                         string    results1  weeks       weeks ago                     else                        string    2 weeks ago                                             elseif   results1  weeks      0     results1  days      0                if   results1  days      1                     string    results1  days       day ago                 else                    string    results1  days       days ago                           elseif   results1  days      0     results1  hours      0                 string    results1  days       day and      results1  hours       hours ago             elseif   results1  days      0     results1  hours      0                if   results1  hours      1                     string    results1  hours       hour ago                 else                    string    results1  hours       hours ago                           elseif   results1  hours      0     results1  minutes      0                 string    results1  hours       hour and      results1  minutes       minutes ago             elseif   results1  hours      0     results1  minutes      0                if   results1  minutes      1                     string    results1  minutes       minute ago                 else                    string    results1  minutes       minutes ago                           elseif   results1  minutes      0     results1  seconds      0                 string    results1  minutes       minute and      results1  seconds       seconds ago             elseif   results1  minutes      0     results1  seconds      0                if   results1  seconds      1                     string    results1  seconds       second ago                 else                    string    results1  seconds       seconds ago                                   return  string

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Wrote my own  function getElapsedTime  eventTime         totaldelay   time   - strtotime  eventTime       if  totaldelay  lt   0                return               else               if  days floor  totaldelay 86400                          totaldelay    totaldelay   86400              return  days   days ago                      if  hours floor  totaldelay 3600                          totaldelay    totaldelay   3600              return  hours   hours ago                      if  minutes floor  totaldelay 60                          totaldelay    totaldelay   60              return  minutes   minutes ago                      if  seconds floor  totaldelay 1                          totaldelay    totaldelay   1              return  seconds   seconds ago

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One option that ll work with any version of PHP is to do what s already been suggested  which is something like this    eventTime    2010-04-28 17 25 43    age   time   - strtotime  eventTime     That will give you the age in seconds  From there  you can display it however you wish   One problem with this approach  however  is that it won t take into account time shifts causes by DST  If that s not a concern  then go for it  Otherwise  you ll probably want to use the diff   method in the DateTime class  Unfortunately  this is only an option if you re on at least PHP 5 3

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Use This one and you can get the         previousDate    2013-7-26 17 01 10        startdate   new DateTime  previousDate        endDate     new DateTime  now         interval     endDate- gt diff  startdate       echo interval- gt format   y years   m months   d days      Refer this  http   ca2 php net manual en dateinterval format php

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To improve upon  arnorhs answer I ve added in the ability to have a more precise result so if you wanted years  months  days  amp  hours for instance since the user joined   I ve added a new parameter to allow you to specify the number of points of precision you wish to have returned   function get friendly time ago  distant timestamp   max units   3         i   0       time   time   -  distant timestamp     to get the time since that moment      tokens             31536000   gt   year           2592000   gt   month           604800   gt   week           86400   gt   day           3600   gt   hour           60   gt   minute           1   gt   second               responses           while   i  lt   max units  amp  amp   time  gt  0            foreach   tokens as  unit   gt   text                if   time  lt   unit                    continue                             i                 numberOfUnits   floor  time    unit                 responses      numberOfUnits          text      numberOfUnits  gt  1     s                      time -    unit    numberOfUnits               break                       if   empty  responses             return implode        responses      ago              return  Just now

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If you use the php Datetime class you could use   function time ago Datetime  date       time ago           diff    date- gt diff new Datetime  now         if    t    diff- gt format   m     gt  0       time ago    t     months     else if    t    diff- gt format   d     gt  0       time ago    t     days     else if    t    diff- gt format   H     gt  0       time ago    t     hours     else      time ago    minutes      return  time ago     ago       date- gt format  M j  Y

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Want to share php function which results in grammatically correct Facebook like human readable time format   Example   echo get time ago strtotime  now       Result   less than 1 minute ago  function get time ago  time stamp         time difference   strtotime  now   -  time stamp       if   time difference  gt   60   60   24   365 242199                              60 seconds minute   60 minutes hour   24 hours day   365 242199 days year            This means that the time difference is 1 year or more                     return get time ago string  time stamp  60   60   24   365 242199   year              elseif   time difference  gt   60   60   24   30 4368499                              60 seconds minute   60 minutes hour   24 hours day   30 4368499 days month            This means that the time difference is 1 month or more                     return get time ago string  time stamp  60   60   24   30 4368499   month              elseif   time difference  gt   60   60   24   7                              60 seconds minute   60 minutes hour   24 hours day   7 days week            This means that the time difference is 1 week or more                     return get time ago string  time stamp  60   60   24   7   week              elseif   time difference  gt   60   60   24                              60 seconds minute   60 minutes hour   24 hours day            This means that the time difference is 1 day or more                     return get time ago string  time stamp  60   60   24   day              elseif   time difference  gt   60   60                              60 seconds minute   60 minutes hour            This means that the time difference is 1 hour or more                     return get time ago string  time stamp  60   60   hour              else                             60 seconds minute            This means that the time difference is a matter of minutes                     return get time ago string  time stamp  60   minute             function get time ago string  time stamp   divisor   time unit         time difference   strtotime  now   -  time stamp       time units        floor  time difference    divisor        settype  time units   string         if   time units      0                 return  less than 1      time unit     ago             elseif   time units      1                 return  1      time unit     ago             else                             More than  1   time unit  This is the  plural  message                         TODO  This pluralizes the time unit  which is done by adding  s  at the end  this will not work for i18n          return  time units          time unit    s ago

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Most of the answers seem focused around converting the date from a string to time  It seems you re mostly thinking about getting the date into the  5 days ago  format  etc   right   This is how I d go about doing that    time   strtotime  2010-04-28 17 25 43     echo  event happened   humanTiming  time    ago    function humanTiming   time          time   time   -  time     to get the time since that moment      time     time lt 1   1    time       tokens   array           31536000   gt   year           2592000   gt   month           604800   gt   week           86400   gt   day           3600   gt   hour           60   gt   minute           1   gt   second              foreach   tokens as  unit   gt   text            if   time  lt   unit  continue           numberOfUnits   floor  time    unit           return  numberOfUnits      text    numberOfUnits gt 1   s                  I haven t tested that  but it should work    The result would look like  event happened 4 days ago   or   event happened 1 minute ago   cheers

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Convert  saved date  to timestamp   Get current timestamp   current timestamp -  saved date  timestamp   Then you can format it with date     You can normally convert most date formats to timestamps with the strtotime   function

[php] PHP How to find the time elapsed since a date time?

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