Calculate relative time in C

Question

Given a specific DateTime value  how do I display relative time  like    2 hours ago 3 days ago a month ago

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using Fluent DateTime  var dateTime1   2 Hours   Ago    var dateTime2   3 Days   Ago    var dateTime3   1 Months   Ago    var dateTime4   5 Hours   FromNow    var dateTime5   2 Weeks   FromNow    var dateTime6   40 Seconds   FromNow

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A couple of years late to the party  but I had a requirement to do this for both past and future dates  so I combined Jeff s and Vincent s into this   It s a ternarytastic extravaganza      public static class DateTimeHelper               private const int SECOND   1          private const int MINUTE   60   SECOND          private const int HOUR   60   MINUTE          private const int DAY   24   HOUR          private const int MONTH   30   DAY                lt summary gt              Returns a friendly version of the provided DateTime  relative to now  E g    2 days ago   or  in 6 months                lt  summary gt               lt param name  dateTime  gt The DateTime to compare to Now lt  param gt               lt returns gt A friendly string lt  returns gt          public static string GetFriendlyRelativeTime DateTime dateTime                        if  DateTime UtcNow Ticks    dateTime Ticks                                return  Right now                               bool isFuture    DateTime UtcNow Ticks  lt  dateTime Ticks               var ts   DateTime UtcNow Ticks  lt  dateTime Ticks   new TimeSpan dateTime Ticks - DateTime UtcNow Ticks    new TimeSpan DateTime UtcNow Ticks - dateTime Ticks                double delta   ts TotalSeconds               if  delta  lt  1   MINUTE                                return isFuture    in      ts Seconds    1    one second    ts Seconds     seconds     ts Seconds    1    one second ago    ts Seconds     seconds ago                             if  delta  lt  2   MINUTE                                return isFuture    in a minute     a minute ago                             if  delta  lt  45   MINUTE                                return isFuture    in     ts Minutes     minutes    ts Minutes     minutes ago                             if  delta  lt  90   MINUTE                                return isFuture    in an hour     an hour ago                             if  delta  lt  24   HOUR                                return isFuture    in     ts Hours     hours    ts Hours     hours ago                             if  delta  lt  48   HOUR                                return isFuture    tomorrow     yesterday                             if  delta  lt  30   DAY                                return isFuture    in     ts Days     days    ts Days     days ago                             if  delta  lt  12   MONTH                                int months   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   30                    return isFuture    in      months  lt   1    one month    months     months     months  lt   1    one month ago    months     months ago                             else                               int years   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   365                    return isFuture    in      years  lt   1    one year    years     years     years  lt   1    one year ago    years     years ago

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I thought I d give this a shot using classes and polymorphism  I had a previous iteration which used sub-classing which ended up having way too much overhead  I ve switched to a more flexible delegate   public property object model which is significantly better  My code is very slightly more accurate  I wish I could come up with a better way to generate  months ago  that didn t seem too over-engineered   I think I d still stick with Jeff s if-then cascade because it s less code and it s simpler  it s definitely easier to ensure it ll work as expected    For the below code PrintRelativeTime GetRelativeTimeMessage TimeSpan ago  returns the relative time message  e g   yesterday     public class RelativeTimeRange   IComparable       public TimeSpan UpperBound   get  set         public delegate string RelativeTimeTextDelegate TimeSpan timeDelta        public RelativeTimeTextDelegate MessageCreator   get  set         public int CompareTo object obj                if    obj is RelativeTimeRange                         return 1                       note that this sorts in reverse order to the way you d expect              this saves having to reverse a list later         return  obj as RelativeTimeRange  UpperBound CompareTo UpperBound            public class PrintRelativeTime       private static List lt RelativeTimeRange gt  timeRanges       static PrintRelativeTime                 timeRanges   new List lt RelativeTimeRange gt               new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   TimeSpan FromSeconds 1                   MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return  one second ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   TimeSpan FromSeconds 60                   MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return delta Seconds     seconds ago                                  new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   TimeSpan FromMinutes 2                   MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return  one minute ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   TimeSpan FromMinutes 60                   MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return delta Minutes     minutes ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   TimeSpan FromHours 2                   MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return  one hour ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   TimeSpan FromHours 24                   MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return delta Hours     hours ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   TimeSpan FromDays 2                   MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return  yesterday                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   DateTime Now Subtract DateTime Now AddMonths -1                    MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return delta Days     days ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   DateTime Now Subtract DateTime Now AddMonths -2                    MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return  one month ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   DateTime Now Subtract DateTime Now AddYears -1                    MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return  int Math Floor delta TotalDays   30      months ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   DateTime Now Subtract DateTime Now AddYears -2                    MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return  one year ago                                 new RelativeTimeRange                               UpperBound   TimeSpan MaxValue                  MessageCreator    delta    gt                     return  int Math Floor delta TotalDays   365 24D      years ago                                       timeRanges Sort               public static string GetRelativeTimeMessage TimeSpan ago                RelativeTimeRange postRelativeDateRange   timeRanges 0            foreach  var timeRange in timeRanges                        if  ago CompareTo timeRange UpperBound   lt   0                                postRelativeDateRange   timeRange                                   return postRelativeDateRange MessageCreator ago

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I would provide some handy extensions methods for this and make the code more readable  First  couple of extension methods for Int32   public static class TimeSpanExtensions        public static TimeSpan Days this int value             return new TimeSpan value  0  0  0              public static TimeSpan Hours this int value             return new TimeSpan 0  value  0  0              public static TimeSpan Minutes this int value             return new TimeSpan 0  0  value  0              public static TimeSpan Seconds this int value             return new TimeSpan 0  0  0  value              public static TimeSpan Milliseconds this int value             return new TimeSpan 0  0  0  0  value              public static DateTime Ago this TimeSpan value             return DateTime Now - value            Then  one for DateTime   public static class DateTimeExtensions        public static DateTime Ago this DateTime dateTime  TimeSpan delta             return dateTime - delta            Now  you can do something like below   var date   DateTime Now  date Ago 2 Days        2 days ago date Ago 7 Hours        7 hours ago date Ago 567 Milliseconds        567 milliseconds ago

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code date1  has to be earlier than   code date2       public static String relativize Date date1  Date date2        assert date2 getTime    gt   date1 getTime         long duration   date2 getTime   - date1 getTime        long converted       if   converted   TimeUnit MILLISECONDS toDays duration    gt  0            return String format   d  s ago   converted  converted    1    day     days          else if   converted   TimeUnit MILLISECONDS toHours duration    gt  0            return String format   d  s ago   converted  converted    1    hour     hours          else if   converted   TimeUnit MILLISECONDS toMinutes duration    gt  0            return String format   d  s ago   converted  converted    1    minute     minutes          else if   converted   TimeUnit MILLISECONDS toSeconds duration    gt  0            return String format   d  s ago   converted  converted    1    second     seconds          else           return  just now

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Here a rewrite from Jeffs Script for PHP   define  SECOND   1   define  MINUTE   60   SECOND   define  HOUR   60   MINUTE   define  DAY   24   HOUR   define  MONTH   30   DAY   function relativeTime  time            delta   time   -  time       if   delta  lt  1   MINUTE                return  delta    1    one second ago     delta     seconds ago             if   delta  lt  2   MINUTE              return  a minute ago             if   delta  lt  45   MINUTE                return floor  delta   MINUTE      minutes ago             if   delta  lt  90   MINUTE              return  an hour ago             if   delta  lt  24   HOUR              return floor  delta   HOUR      hours ago             if   delta  lt  48   HOUR              return  yesterday             if   delta  lt  30   DAY                return floor  delta   DAY      days ago             if   delta  lt  12   MONTH               months   floor  delta   DAY   30         return  months  lt   1    one month ago     months     months ago             else                years   floor  delta   DAY   365           return  years  lt   1    one year ago     years     years ago

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A  quot one-liner quot  using deconstruction and Linq to get  quot n  biggest unit of time  ago quot    TimeSpan timeSpan   DateTime Now - new DateTime 1234  5  6  7  8  9     string unit  int value    new Dictionary lt string  int gt          quot year s  quot    int  timeSpan TotalDays   365 25      https   en wikipedia org wiki Year Intercalation       quot month s  quot    int  timeSpan TotalDays   29 53      https   en wikipedia org wiki Month       quot day s  quot    int timeSpan TotalDays         quot hour s  quot    int timeSpan TotalHours         quot minute s  quot    int timeSpan TotalMinutes         quot second s  quot    int timeSpan TotalSeconds         quot millisecond s  quot    int timeSpan TotalMilliseconds    First kvp   gt  kvp Value  gt  0    Console WriteLine   quot  value   unit  ago quot     You get 786 year s  ago With the current year and month  like TimeSpan timeSpan   DateTime Now - new DateTime 2020  12  6  7  8  9    you get 4 day s  ago With the actual date  like TimeSpan timeSpan   DateTime Now - DateTime Now Date   you get 9 hour s  ago

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Jeff   var ts   new TimeSpan DateTime UtcNow Ticks - dt Ticks      Doing a subtraction on DateTime returns a TimeSpan anyway   So you can just do    DateTime UtcNow - dt  TotalSeconds   I m also surprised to see the constants multiplied-out by hand and then comments added with the multiplications in    Was that some misguided optimisation

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using System  using System Collections Generic  using System Linq   public static class RelativeDateHelper       private static Dictionary lt double  Func lt double  string gt  gt  sm Dict   null       private static Dictionary lt double  Func lt double  string gt  gt  DictionarySetup                 var dict   new Dictionary lt double  Func lt double  string gt  gt             dict Add 0 75   mins    gt   less than a minute            dict Add 1 5   mins    gt   about a minute            dict Add 45   mins    gt  string Format   0  minutes   Math Round mins             dict Add 90   mins    gt   about an hour            dict Add 1440   mins    gt  string Format  about  0  hours   Math Round Math Abs mins   60         60   24         dict Add 2880   mins    gt   a day       60   48         dict Add 43200   mins    gt  string Format   0  days   Math Floor Math Abs mins   1440         60   24   30         dict Add 86400   mins    gt   about a month       60   24   60         dict Add 525600   mins    gt  string Format   0  months   Math Floor Math Abs mins   43200         60   24   365          dict Add 1051200   mins    gt   about a year       60   24   365   2         dict Add double MaxValue   mins    gt  string Format   0  years   Math Floor Math Abs mins   525600               return dict             public static string ToRelativeDate this DateTime input                TimeSpan oSpan   DateTime Now Subtract input           double TotalMinutes   oSpan TotalMinutes          string Suffix     ago            if  TotalMinutes  lt  0 0                        TotalMinutes   Math Abs TotalMinutes               Suffix     from now                      if  null    sm Dict              sm Dict   DictionarySetup             return sm Dict First n   gt  TotalMinutes  lt  n Key  Value Invoke TotalMinutes    Suffix            The same as another answer to this question but as an extension method with a static dictionary

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public static string RelativeDate DateTime theDate        Dictionary lt long  string gt  thresholds   new Dictionary lt long  string gt         int minute   60      int hour   60   minute      int day   24   hour      thresholds Add 60    0  seconds ago        thresholds Add minute   2   a minute ago        thresholds Add 45   minute    0  minutes ago        thresholds Add 120   minute   an hour ago        thresholds Add day    0  hours ago        thresholds Add day   2   yesterday        thresholds Add day   30    0  days ago        thresholds Add day   365    0  months ago        thresholds Add long MaxValue    0  years ago        long since    DateTime Now Ticks - theDate Ticks    10000000      foreach  long threshold in thresholds Keys                 if  since  lt  threshold                         TimeSpan t   new TimeSpan  DateTime Now Ticks - theDate Ticks                return string Format thresholds threshold    t Days  gt  365   t Days   365    t Days  gt  0   t Days    t Hours  gt  0   t Hours    t Minutes  gt  0   t Minutes    t Seconds  gt  0   t Seconds   0      ToString                         return         I prefer this version for its conciseness  and ability to add in new tick points  This could be encapsulated with a Latest   extension to Timespan instead of that long 1 liner  but for the sake of brevity in posting  this will do  This fixes the an hour ago  1 hours ago  by providing an hour until 2 hours have elapsed

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iPhone Objective-C Version     NSString   timeAgoString  NSDate   date       int delta   - int  date timeIntervalSinceNow        if  delta  lt  60                return delta    1     one second ago     NSString stringWithFormat    i seconds ago   delta             if  delta  lt  120                return   a minute ago             if  delta  lt  2700                return  NSString stringWithFormat    i minutes ago   delta 60             if  delta  lt  5400                return   an hour ago             if  delta  lt  24   3600                return  NSString stringWithFormat    i hours ago   delta 3600             if  delta  lt  48   3600                return   yesterday             if  delta  lt  30   24   3600                return  NSString stringWithFormat    i days ago   delta  24 3600              if  delta  lt  12   30   24   3600                int months   delta  30 24 3600           return months  lt   1     one month ago     NSString stringWithFormat    i months ago   months             else               int years   delta  12 30 24 3600           return years  lt   1     one year ago     NSString stringWithFormat    i years ago   years

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I would recommend computing this on the client side too  Less work for the server    The following is the version that I use  from Zach Leatherman         Javascript Humane Dates    Copyright  c  2008 Dean Landolt  deanlandolt com     Re-write by Zach Leatherman  zachleat com         Adopted from the John Resig s pretty js    at http   ejohn org blog javascript-pretty-date    and henrah s proposed modification     at http   ejohn org blog javascript-pretty-date  comment-297458        Licensed under the MIT license       function humane date date str           var time formats                      60   just now                     90   1 minute       60 1 5                  3600   minutes   60      60 60  60                  5400   1 hour       60 60 1 5                  86400   hours   3600      60 60 24  60 60                  129600   1 day       60 60 24 1 5                  604800   days   86400      60 60 24 7  60 60 24                  907200   1 week       60 60 24 7 1 5                  2628000   weeks   604800      60 60 24  365 12   60 60 24 7                  3942000   1 month       60 60 24  365 12  1 5                  31536000   months   2628000      60 60 24 365  60 60 24  365 12                   47304000   1 year       60 60 24 365 1 5                  3153600000   years   31536000      60 60 24 365 100  60 60 24 365                  4730400000   1 century      60 60 24 365 100 1 5                     var time         date str  replace  - g      replace   TZ  g                       dt   new Date                  seconds     dt - new Date time     dt getTimezoneOffset     60000     1000                   token     ago                   i   0                  format           if  seconds  lt  0                    seconds   Math abs seconds                   token                          while  format   time formats i                       if  seconds  lt  format 0                             if  format length    2                                    return format 1     i  gt  1   token           Conditional so we don t return Just Now Ago                           else                                   return Math round seconds   format 2           format 1     i  gt  1   token                                                                          overflow for centuries         if seconds  gt  4730400000                  return Math round seconds   4730400000      centuries    token           return date str      if typeof jQuery     undefined             jQuery fn humane dates   function                    return this each function                            var date   humane date this title                           if date  amp  amp  jQuery this  text      date     don t modify the dom if we don t have to                                 jQuery this  text date

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jquery timeago plugin  Jeff  because Stack Overflow uses jQuery extensively  I recommend the jquery timeago plugin     Benefits    Avoid timestamps dated  1 minute ago  even though the page was opened 10 minutes ago  timeago refreshes automatically  You can take full advantage of page and or fragment caching in your web applications  because the timestamps aren t calculated on the server  You get to use microformats like the cool kids    Just attach it to your timestamps on DOM ready   jQuery document  ready function         jQuery  abbr timeago   timeago          This will turn all abbr elements with a class of timeago and an ISO 8601 timestamp in the title    lt abbr class  timeago  title  2008-07-17T09 24 17Z  gt July 17  2008 lt  abbr gt    into something like this    lt abbr class  timeago  title  July 17  2008  gt 4 months ago lt  abbr gt    which yields  4 months ago  As time passes  the timestamps will automatically update    Disclaimer  I wrote this plugin  so I m biased

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My way is much more simpler  You can tweak with the return strings as you want      public static string TimeLeft DateTime utcDate                TimeSpan timeLeft   DateTime UtcNow - utcDate          string timeLeftString               if  timeLeft Days  gt  0                        timeLeftString    timeLeft Days    1   timeLeft Days     day    timeLeft Days     days                     else if  timeLeft Hours  gt  0                        timeLeftString    timeLeft Hours    1   timeLeft Hours     hour    timeLeft Hours     hours                     else                       timeLeftString    timeLeft Minutes    1   timeLeft Minutes   minute    timeLeft Minutes     minutes                     return timeLeftString

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When you know the viewer s time zone  it might be clearer to use calendar days at the day scale  I m not familiar with the  NET libraries so I don t know how you d do that in C   unfortunately   On consumer sites  you could also be hand-wavier under a minute   Less than a minute ago  or  just now  could be good enough

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Calculate total days in current year int daysInYear   for  var i   1  i  lt   12  i        daysInYear    DateTime DaysInMonth DateTime Now Year  i       Past date DateTime dateToCompare   DateTime Now Subtract TimeSpan FromMinutes 582        Calculate difference between current date and past date double diff    DateTime Now - dateToCompare  TotalMilliseconds   TimeSpan ts   TimeSpan FromMilliseconds diff    var years   ts TotalDays   daysInYear     Years var months   ts TotalDays    daysInYear    double 12      Months var weeks   ts TotalDays   7     Weeks var days   ts TotalDays     Days var hours   ts TotalHours     Hours var minutes   ts TotalMinutes     Minutes var seconds   ts TotalSeconds     Seconds  if  years  gt   1      Console WriteLine Math Round years  0      year s  ago    else if  months  gt   1      Console WriteLine Math Round months  0      month s  ago    else if  weeks  gt   1      Console WriteLine Math Round weeks  0      week s  ago    else if  days  gt   1      Console WriteLine Math Round days  0      days s  ago    else if  hours  gt   1      Console WriteLine Math Round hours  0      hour s  ago    else if  minutes  gt   1      Console WriteLine Math Round minutes  0      minute s  ago    else if  seconds  gt   1      Console WriteLine Math Round seconds  0      second s  ago     Console ReadLine

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Turkish localized version of Vincents answer       const int SECOND   1      const int MINUTE   60   SECOND      const int HOUR   60   MINUTE      const int DAY   24   HOUR      const int MONTH   30   DAY       var ts   new TimeSpan DateTime UtcNow Ticks - yourDate Ticks       double delta   Math Abs ts TotalSeconds        if  delta  lt  1   MINUTE          return ts Seconds     saniye   nce        if  delta  lt  45   MINUTE          return ts Minutes     dakika   nce        if  delta  lt  24   HOUR          return ts Hours     saat   nce        if  delta  lt  48   HOUR          return  d  n        if  delta  lt  30   DAY          return ts Days     g  n   nce        if  delta  lt  12   MONTH                int months   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   30            return months     ay   nce             else               int years   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   365            return years     yil   nce

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If you want to have an output like  2 days  4 hours and 12 minutes ago   you need a timespan   TimeSpan timeDiff   DateTime Now-CreatedDate    Then you can access the values you like   timeDiff Days timeDiff Hours   etc

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In a way you do your DateTime function over calculating relative time by either seconds to years  try something like this  using System   public class Program       public static string getRelativeTime DateTime past            DateTime now   DateTime Today          string rt    quot  quot           int time          string statement    quot  quot           if  past Second  gt   now Second                if  past Second - now Second    1                    rt    quot second ago quot                             rt    quot seconds ago quot               time   past Second - now Second              statement    quot  quot    time              return  statement   rt                     if  past Minute  gt   now Minute                if  past Second - now Second    1                    rt    quot second ago quot                 else                   rt    quot minutes ago quot                             time   past Minute - now Minute              statement    quot  quot    time              return  statement   rt                        This process will go on until years           public static void Main             DateTime before   new DateTime 1995  8  24           string date   getRelativeTime before           Console WriteLine  quot Windows 95 was  0   quot   date            Not exactly working but if you modify and debug it a bit  it will likely do the job

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Surely an easy fix to get rid of the  1 hours ago  problem would be to increase the window that  an hour ago  is valid for  Change  if  delta  lt  5400     90   60       return  an hour ago       into  if  delta  lt  7200     120   60       return  an hour ago       This means that something that occurred 110 minutes ago will read as  an hour ago  - this may not be perfect  but I d say it is better than the current situation of  1 hours ago

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I got this answer from one of Bill Gates  blogs  I need to find it on my browser history and I ll give you the link  The Javascript code to do the same thing  as requested   function posted t        var now   new Date        var diff   parseInt  now getTime   - Date parse t     1000       if  diff  lt  60    return  less than a minute ago         else if  diff  lt  120    return  about a minute ago         else if  diff  lt   2700     return  parseInt diff   60   toString       minutes ago         else if  diff  lt   5400     return  about an hour ago         else if  diff  lt   86400     return  about      parseInt diff   3600   toString       hours ago         else if  diff  lt   172800     return  1 day ago          else  return  parseInt diff   86400   toString       days ago        Basically  you work in terms of seconds

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Is there an easy way to do this in Java  The java util Date class seems rather limited   Here is my quick and dirty Java solution   import java util Date  import javax management timer Timer   String getRelativeDate Date date           long delta   new Date   getTime   - date getTime      if  delta  lt  1L   Timer ONE MINUTE        return toSeconds delta     1    one second ago    toSeconds delta      seconds ago         if  delta  lt  2L   Timer ONE MINUTE        return  a minute ago         if  delta  lt  45L   Timer ONE MINUTE        return toMinutes delta      minutes ago         if  delta  lt  90L   Timer ONE MINUTE        return  an hour ago         if  delta  lt  24L   Timer ONE HOUR        return toHours delta      hours ago         if  delta  lt  48L   Timer ONE HOUR        return  yesterday         if  delta  lt  30L   Timer ONE DAY        return toDays delta      days ago         if  delta  lt  12L   4L   Timer ONE WEEK       a month     long months   toMonths delta        return months  lt   1    one month ago    months     months ago         else       long years   toYears delta       return years  lt   1    one year ago    years     years ago          private long toSeconds long date      return date   1000L     private long toMinutes long date      return toSeconds date    60L     private long toHours long date      return toMinutes date    60L     private long toDays long date      return toHours date    24L     private long toMonths long date      return toDays date    30L     private long toYears long date      return toMonths date    365L

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jeff IMHO yours seems a little long  However it does seem a little more robust with support for  quot yesterday quot  and  quot years quot    But in my experience when this is used  the person is most likely to view the content in the first 30 days  It is only the really hardcore people that come after that  So  I usually elect to keep this short and simple  This is the method I am currently using in one of my websites  This returns only a relative day  hour and time   And then the user has to slap on  quot ago quot  in the output  public static string ToLongString this TimeSpan time        string output   String Empty       if  time Days  gt  0          output    time Days    quot  days  quot        if   time Days    0    time Days    1   amp  amp  time Hours  gt  0          output    time Hours    quot  hr  quot        if  time Days    0  amp  amp  time Minutes  gt  0          output    time Minutes    quot  min  quot        if  output Length    0          output    time Seconds    quot  sec quot        return output Trim

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var ts   new TimeSpan DateTime Now Ticks - dt Ticks

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public static string ToRelativeDate DateTime input        TimeSpan oSpan   DateTime Now Subtract input       double TotalMinutes   oSpan TotalMinutes      string Suffix     ago        if  TotalMinutes  lt  0 0                TotalMinutes   Math Abs TotalMinutes           Suffix     from now              var aValue   new SortedList lt double  Func lt string gt  gt         aValue Add 0 75       gt   less than a minute        aValue Add 1 5       gt   about a minute        aValue Add 45       gt  string Format   0  minutes   Math Round TotalMinutes         aValue Add 90       gt   about an hour        aValue Add 1440       gt  string Format  about  0  hours   Math Round Math Abs oSpan TotalHours         60   24     aValue Add 2880       gt   a day       60   48     aValue Add 43200       gt  string Format   0  days   Math Floor Math Abs oSpan TotalDays         60   24   30     aValue Add 86400       gt   about a month       60   24   60     aValue Add 525600       gt  string Format   0  months   Math Floor Math Abs oSpan TotalDays   30         60   24   365      aValue Add 1051200       gt   about a year       60   24   365   2     aValue Add double MaxValue       gt  string Format   0  years   Math Floor Math Abs oSpan TotalDays   365           return aValue First n   gt  TotalMinutes  lt  n Key  Value Invoke     Suffix      http   refactormycode com codes 493-twitter-esque-relative-dates  C  6 version   static readonly SortedList lt double  Func lt TimeSpan  string gt  gt  offsets       new SortedList lt double  Func lt TimeSpan  string gt  gt          0 75      gt   less than a minute          1 5      gt   about a minute          45  x   gt     x TotalMinutes F0  minutes          90  x   gt   about an hour          1440  x   gt    about  x TotalHours F0  hours          2880  x   gt   a day          43200  x   gt     x TotalDays F0  days          86400  x   gt   about a month          525600  x   gt     x TotalDays   30 F0  months          1051200  x   gt   about a year          double MaxValue  x   gt     x TotalDays   365 F0  years       public static string ToRelativeDate this DateTime input        TimeSpan x   DateTime Now - input      string Suffix   x TotalMinutes  gt  0     ago      from now       x   new TimeSpan Math Abs x Ticks        return offsets First n   gt  x TotalMinutes  lt  n Key  Value x    Suffix

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Given the world and her husband appear to be posting code samples  here is what I wrote a while ago  based on a couple of these answers   I had a specific need for this code to be localisable  So I have two classes     Grammar  which specifies the localisable terms  and FuzzyDateExtensions  which holds a bunch of extension methods  I had no need to deal with future datetimes  so no attempt is made to handle them with this code   I ve left some of the XMLdoc in the source  but removed most  where they d be obvious  for brevity s sake  I ve also not included every class member here   public class Grammar            lt summary gt  Gets or sets the term for  just now    lt  summary gt      public string JustNow   get  set             lt summary gt  Gets or sets the term for  X minutes ago    lt  summary gt           lt remarks gt              This is a  lt see cref  String Format   gt  pattern  where  lt c gt  0  lt  c gt              is the number of minutes           lt  remarks gt      public string MinutesAgo   get  set        public string OneHourAgo   get  set        public string HoursAgo   get  set        public string Yesterday   get  set        public string DaysAgo   get  set        public string LastMonth   get  set        public string MonthsAgo   get  set        public string LastYear   get  set        public string YearsAgo   get  set             lt summary gt  Gets or sets the term for  ages ago    lt  summary gt      public string AgesAgo   get  set              lt summary gt              Gets or sets the threshold beyond which the fuzzy date should be             considered  ages ago            lt  summary gt      public TimeSpan AgesAgoThreshold   get  set              lt summary gt              Initialises a new  lt see cref  Grammar   gt  instance with the             specified properties           lt  summary gt      private void Initialise string justNow  string minutesAgo          string oneHourAgo  string hoursAgo  string yesterday  string daysAgo          string lastMonth  string monthsAgo  string lastYear  string yearsAgo          string agesAgo  TimeSpan agesAgoThreshold                  The FuzzyDateString class contains   public static class FuzzyDateExtensions       public static string ToFuzzyDateString this TimeSpan timespan                return timespan ToFuzzyDateString new Grammar                public static string ToFuzzyDateString this TimeSpan timespan          Grammar grammar                return GetFuzzyDateString timespan  grammar              public static string ToFuzzyDateString this DateTime datetime                return  DateTime Now - datetime  ToFuzzyDateString               public static string ToFuzzyDateString this DateTime datetime         Grammar grammar                return  DateTime Now - datetime  ToFuzzyDateString grammar               private static string GetFuzzyDateString TimeSpan timespan         Grammar grammar                timespan   timespan Duration             if  timespan  gt   grammar AgesAgoThreshold                        return grammar AgesAgo                     if  timespan  lt  new TimeSpan 0  2  0         2 minutes                       return grammar JustNow                     if  timespan  lt  new TimeSpan 1  0  0         1 hour                       return String Format grammar MinutesAgo  timespan Minutes                      if  timespan  lt  new TimeSpan 1  55  0         1 hour 55 minutes                       return grammar OneHourAgo                     if  timespan  lt  new TimeSpan 12  0  0        12 hours              amp  amp   DateTime Now - timespan  IsToday                          return String Format grammar HoursAgo  timespan RoundedHours                        if   DateTime Now AddDays 1  - timespan  IsToday                          return grammar Yesterday                     if  timespan  lt  new TimeSpan 32  0  0  0        32 days              amp  amp   DateTime Now - timespan  IsThisMonth                          return String Format grammar DaysAgo  timespan RoundedDays                        if   DateTime Now AddMonths 1  - timespan  IsThisMonth                          return grammar LastMonth                     if  timespan  lt  new TimeSpan 365  0  0  0  0        365 days              amp  amp   DateTime Now - timespan  IsThisYear                          return String Format grammar MonthsAgo  timespan RoundedMonths                        if   DateTime Now - timespan  AddYears 1  IsThisYear                          return grammar LastYear                     return String Format grammar YearsAgo  timespan RoundedYears               One of the key things I wanted to achieve  as well as localisation  was that  today  would only mean  this calendar day   so the IsToday  IsThisMonth  IsThisYear methods look like this   public static bool IsToday this DateTime date        return date DayOfYear    DateTime Now DayOfYear  amp  amp  date IsThisYear        and the rounding methods are like this  I ve included RoundedMonths  as that s a bit different    public static int RoundedDays this TimeSpan timespan        return  timespan Hours  gt  12    timespan Days   1   timespan Days     public static int RoundedMonths this TimeSpan timespan        DateTime then   DateTime Now - timespan          Number of partial months elapsed since 1 Jan  AD 1  DateTime MinValue      int nowMonthYears   DateTime Now Year   12   DateTime Now Month      int thenMonthYears   then Year   12   then Month                           return nowMonthYears - thenMonthYears      I hope people find this useful and or interesting   o

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Jeff  your code is nice but could be clearer with constants  as suggested in Code Complete    const int SECOND   1  const int MINUTE   60   SECOND  const int HOUR   60   MINUTE  const int DAY   24   HOUR  const int MONTH   30   DAY   var ts   new TimeSpan DateTime UtcNow Ticks - yourDate Ticks   double delta   Math Abs ts TotalSeconds    if  delta  lt  1   MINUTE    return ts Seconds    1    one second ago    ts Seconds     seconds ago    if  delta  lt  2   MINUTE    return  a minute ago    if  delta  lt  45   MINUTE    return ts Minutes     minutes ago    if  delta  lt  90   MINUTE    return  an hour ago    if  delta  lt  24   HOUR    return ts Hours     hours ago    if  delta  lt  48   HOUR    return  yesterday    if  delta  lt  30   DAY    return ts Days     days ago    if  delta  lt  12   MONTH      int months   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   30      return months  lt   1    one month ago    months     months ago     else     int years   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   365      return years  lt   1    one year ago    years     years ago

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Here s the algorithm stackoverflow uses but rewritten more concisely in perlish pseudocode with a bug fix  no  one hours ago     The function takes a  positive  number of seconds ago and returns a human-friendly string like  3 hours ago  or  yesterday    agoify  delta    local  y   mo   d   h   m   s      s   floor  delta     if  s lt  1             return  a second ago     if  s lt 60             return   s seconds ago      m   floor  s 60     if  m  1             return  a minute ago     if  m lt 45             return   m minutes ago      h   floor  m 60     if  h  1             return  an hour ago     if  h lt 24             return   h hours ago      d   floor  h 24     if  d lt 2              return  yesterday     if  d lt 30             return   d days ago      mo   floor  d 30     if  mo lt  1            return  a month ago      y   floor  mo 12     if  y lt 1              return   mo months ago     if  y  1             return  a year ago     return   y years ago

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You can use TimeAgo extension as below  public static string TimeAgo this DateTime dateTime        string result   string Empty      var timeSpan   DateTime Now Subtract dateTime         if  timeSpan  lt   TimeSpan FromSeconds 60                 result   string Format  quot  0  seconds ago quot   timeSpan Seconds             else if  timeSpan  lt   TimeSpan FromMinutes 60                 result   timeSpan Minutes  gt  1                String Format  quot about  0  minutes ago quot   timeSpan Minutes                 quot about a minute ago quot             else if  timeSpan  lt   TimeSpan FromHours 24                 result   timeSpan Hours  gt  1                String Format  quot about  0  hours ago quot   timeSpan Hours                  quot about an hour ago quot             else if  timeSpan  lt   TimeSpan FromDays 30                 result   timeSpan Days  gt  1                String Format  quot about  0  days ago quot   timeSpan Days                  quot yesterday quot             else if  timeSpan  lt   TimeSpan FromDays 365                 result   timeSpan Days  gt  30                String Format  quot about  0  months ago quot   timeSpan Days   30                  quot about a month ago quot             else               result   timeSpan Days  gt  365                String Format  quot about  0  years ago quot   timeSpan Days   365                  quot about a year ago quot               return result     Or use jQuery plugin with Razor extension from Timeago

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You can reduce the server-side load by performing this logic client-side  View source on some Digg pages for reference  They have the server emit an epoch time value that gets processed by Javascript  This way you don t need to manage the end user s time zone  The new server-side code would be something like   public string GetRelativeTime DateTime timeStamp        return string Format   lt script gt printdate  0    lt  script gt    timeStamp ToFileTimeUtc         You could even add a NOSCRIPT block there and just perform a ToString

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In PHP  I do it this way     lt  php function timesince  original           array of time period chunks      chunks   array          array 60   60   24   365    year            array 60   60   24   30    month            array 60   60   24   7   week            array 60   60   24    day            array 60   60    hour            array 60    minute                 today   time       Current unix time          since    today -  original       if  since  gt  604800         print   date  M jS    original        if  since  gt  31536000             print           date  Y    original              return  print         j saves performing the count function each time around the loop for   i   0   j   count  chunks    i  lt   j   i            seconds    chunks  i  0        name    chunks  i  1           finding the biggest chunk  if the chunk fits  break      if    count   floor  since    seconds      0            break            print     count    1     1    name     count   name s    return  print     ago        gt

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Here s how I do it  var ts   new TimeSpan DateTime UtcNow Ticks - dt Ticks   double delta   Math Abs ts TotalSeconds    if  delta  lt  60      return ts Seconds    1    one second ago    ts Seconds     seconds ago     if  delta  lt  60   2      return  a minute ago     if  delta  lt  45   60      return ts Minutes     minutes ago     if  delta  lt  90   60      return  an hour ago     if  delta  lt  24   60   60      return ts Hours     hours ago     if  delta  lt  48   60   60      return  yesterday     if  delta  lt  30   24   60   60      return ts Days     days ago     if  delta  lt  12   30   24   60   60      int months   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   30      return months  lt   1    one month ago    months     months ago     int years   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   365    return years  lt   1    one year ago    years     years ago     Suggestions  Comments  Ways to improve this algorithm

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Java for client-side gwt usage   import java util Date   public class RelativeDateFormat     private static final long ONE MINUTE   60000L   private static final long ONE HOUR   3600000L   private static final long ONE DAY   86400000L   private static final long ONE WEEK   604800000L    public static String format Date date       long delta   new Date   getTime   - date getTime      if  delta  lt  1L   ONE MINUTE       return toSeconds delta     1    one second ago    toSeconds delta           seconds ago         if  delta  lt  2L   ONE MINUTE       return  one minute ago         if  delta  lt  45L   ONE MINUTE       return toMinutes delta      minutes ago         if  delta  lt  90L   ONE MINUTE       return  one hour ago         if  delta  lt  24L   ONE HOUR       return toHours delta      hours ago         if  delta  lt  48L   ONE HOUR       return  yesterday         if  delta  lt  30L   ONE DAY       return toDays delta      days ago         if  delta  lt  12L   4L   ONE WEEK       long months   toMonths delta      return months  lt   1    one month ago    months     months ago       else      long years   toYears delta      return years  lt   1    one year ago    years     years ago            private static long toSeconds long date      return date   1000L       private static long toMinutes long date      return toSeconds date    60L       private static long toHours long date      return toMinutes date    60L       private static long toDays long date      return toHours date    24L       private static long toMonths long date      return toDays date    30L       private static long toYears long date      return toMonths date    365L

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Here s an implementation I added as an extension method to the DateTime class that handles both future and past dates and provides an approximation option that allows you to specify the level of detail you re looking for   3 hour ago  vs  3 hours  23 minutes  12 seconds ago     using System Text        lt summary gt      Compares a supplied date to the current date and generates a friendly English      comparison   5 days ago    5 days from now        lt  summary gt       lt param name  date  gt The date to convert lt  param gt       lt param name  approximate  gt When off  calculate timespan down to the second      When on  approximate to the largest round unit of time  lt  param gt       lt returns gt  lt  returns gt  public static string ToRelativeDateString this DateTime value  bool approximate        StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder         string suffix    value  gt  DateTime Now      from now      ago        TimeSpan timeSpan   new TimeSpan Math Abs DateTime Now Subtract value  Ticks         if  timeSpan Days  gt  0                sb AppendFormat   0   1    timeSpan Days             timeSpan Days  gt  1     days     day            if  approximate  return sb ToString     suffix            if  timeSpan Hours  gt  0                sb AppendFormat   0  1   2     sb Length  gt  0           string Empty            timeSpan Hours   timeSpan Hours  gt  1     hours     hour            if  approximate  return sb ToString     suffix            if  timeSpan Minutes  gt  0                sb AppendFormat   0  1   2     sb Length  gt  0           string Empty             timeSpan Minutes   timeSpan Minutes  gt  1     minutes     minute            if  approximate  return sb ToString     suffix            if  timeSpan Seconds  gt  0                sb AppendFormat   0  1   2     sb Length  gt  0           string Empty             timeSpan Seconds   timeSpan Seconds  gt  1     seconds     second            if  approximate  return sb ToString     suffix            if  sb Length    0  return  right now        sb Append suffix       return sb ToString

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This is my function  works like a charm     public static string RelativeDate DateTime theDate                        var span   DateTime Now - theDate              if  span Days  gt  365                                var years    span Days   365                   if  span Days   365    0                      years    1                  return   about  years    years    1    year     years    ago                             if  span Days  gt  30                                var months    span Days   30                   if  span Days   31    0                      months    1                  return   about  months    months    1    month     months    ago                             if  span Days  gt  0                  return   about  span Days    span Days    1    day     days    ago               if  span Hours  gt  0                  return   about  span Hours    span Hours    1    hour     hours    ago               if  span Minutes  gt  0                  return   about  span Minutes    span Minutes    1    minute     minutes    ago               if  span Seconds  gt  5                  return   about  span Seconds  seconds ago                return span Seconds  lt   5    about 5 seconds ago    string Empty

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you can try this I think it will work correctly   long delta   new Date   getTime   - date getTime    const int SECOND   1  const int MINUTE   60   SECOND  const int HOUR   60   MINUTE  const int DAY   24   HOUR  const int MONTH   30   DAY   if  delta  lt  0L      return  not yet     if  delta  lt  1L   MINUTE      return ts Seconds    1    one second ago    ts Seconds     seconds ago     if  delta  lt  2L   MINUTE      return  a minute ago     if  delta  lt  45L   MINUTE      return ts Minutes     minutes ago     if  delta  lt  90L   MINUTE      return  an hour ago     if  delta  lt  24L   HOUR      return ts Hours     hours ago     if  delta  lt  48L   HOUR      return  yesterday     if  delta  lt  30L   DAY      return ts Days     days ago     if  delta  lt  12L   MONTH      int months   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   30      return months  lt   1    one month ago    months     months ago     else     int years   Convert ToInt32 Math Floor  double ts Days   365      return years  lt   1    one year ago    years     years ago

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public string getRelativeDateTime DateTime date        TimeSpan ts   DateTime Now - date      if  ts TotalMinutes  lt  1   seconds ago         return  just now       if  ts TotalHours  lt  1   min ago         return  int ts TotalMinutes    1    1 Minute ago     int ts TotalMinutes     Minutes ago       if  ts TotalDays  lt  1   hours ago         return  int ts TotalHours    1    1 Hour ago     int ts TotalHours     Hours ago       if  ts TotalDays  lt  7   days ago         return  int ts TotalDays    1    1 Day ago     int ts TotalDays     Days ago       if  ts TotalDays  lt  30 4368   weeks ago         return  int  ts TotalDays   7     1    1 Week ago     int  ts TotalDays   7      Weeks ago       if  ts TotalDays  lt  365 242   months ago         return  int  ts TotalDays   30 4368     1    1 Month ago     int  ts TotalDays   30 4368      Months ago         years ago     return  int  ts TotalDays   365 242     1    1 Year ago     int  ts TotalDays   365 242      Years ago       Conversion values for days in a month and year were taken from Google

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I think there is already a number of answers related to this post  but one can use this which is easy to use just like plugin and also easily readable for programmers   Send your specific date  and get its value in string form   public string RelativeDateTimeCount DateTime inputDateTime        string outputDateTime   string Empty      TimeSpan ts   DateTime Now - inputDateTime       if  ts Days  gt  7        outputDateTime   inputDateTime ToString  MMMM d  yyyy           else if  ts Days  gt  0                outputDateTime   ts Days    1     about 1 Day ago       about     ts Days ToString       Days ago              else if  ts Hours  gt  0                outputDateTime   ts Hours    1     an hour ago      ts Hours ToString       hours ago              else if  ts Minutes  gt  0                outputDateTime   ts Minutes    1     1 minute ago      ts Minutes ToString       minutes ago              else outputDateTime    few seconds ago        return outputDateTime

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There are also a package called Humanizr on Nuget  and it actually works really well  and is in the  NET Foundation   DateTime UtcNow AddHours -30  Humanize     gt   yesterday  DateTime UtcNow AddHours -2  Humanize     gt   2 hours ago   DateTime UtcNow AddHours 30  Humanize     gt   tomorrow  DateTime UtcNow AddHours 2  Humanize     gt   2 hours from now   TimeSpan FromMilliseconds 1299630020  Humanize     gt   2 weeks  TimeSpan FromMilliseconds 1299630020  Humanize 3    gt   2 weeks  1 day  1 hour    Scott Hanselman has a writeup on it on his blog

[c#] Calculate relative time in C#

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