Format datetime interval with a minimum difference - php

Question

I found this really nice PHP script that converts any datetime into a relative string, for example:
'2013-05-01 00:22:35' -> '3 months ago'
It's really cool, but I would like to "trick" the function so that even if the date is, let's say, 20 minutes before, the function returns 1 hour ago instead of 20 minutes ago. Thus, I want to enforce a minimum difference of 1 hour, even when the difference is less than that.
For reference, here is the function.
function time_elapsed_string($datetime, $full = false) {
$now = new DateTime;
$ago = new DateTime($datetime);
$diff = $now->diff($ago);
$diff->w = floor($diff->d / 7);
$diff->d -= $diff->w * 7;
$string = array(
'y' => 'year',
'm' => 'month',
'w' => 'week',
'd' => 'day',
'h' => 'hour',
'i' => 'minute',
's' => 'second',
);
foreach ($string as $k => &$v) {
if ($diff->$k) {
$v = $diff->$k . ' ' . $v . ($diff->$k > 1 ? 's' : '');
} else {
unset($string[$k]);
}
}
if (!$full) $string = array_slice($string, 0, 1);
return $string ? implode(', ', $string) . ' ago' : 'just now';
}
I tried a lot of different things, but nothing really worked.
How can I enforce a minimum difference of 1 hour?

Answer 1

After you have figured out the difference, simply check if the largest difference is only minutes or seconds. If so, return the minimum of 1 hour that you require.
// here is your foreach loop
// check if less than 1 hour, if so, return that
$keys = array_keys($string);
if ($keys[0] === 'i' || $keys[0] === 's') {
return 'less than 1 hour ago';
}
Try it online!
I put the time of posting the question in this example. When you look at it more than 1 hour after that, you'll have to modify the test case to a DateTime that is less than 1 hour ago in UTC time.
Test cases. It is now 2017-06-10 12:45:00 in UTC.
time_elapsed_string("2017-06-10 12:11:19"); // less than 1 hour ago
time_elapsed_string("2017-06-10 11:44:00"); // 1 hour ago
time_elapsed_string("2017-06-10 11:44:00", true); // 1 hour, 1 minute ago
time_elapsed_string("2017-06-09 11:45:00", true); // 1 day, 1 hour ago
time_elapsed_string("2017-06-09 11:45:00"); // 1 day ago

Answer 2

days : If the DateInterval object was created by DateTime::diff(), then this is the total number of days between the start and end dates. Otherwise, days will be FALSE. http://php.net/manual/en/class.dateinterval.php
Since we know it won't be false, it will evaluate to false only when 0.
if($diff->days) {
$diff->w = floor($diff->d / 7);
$diff->d -= $diff->w * 7;
} else /* less than a day's difference */ if(!$diff->h && ($diff->i || $diff->s)) /* less than an hour's difference */ {
$diff->h = 1;
$diff->i = 0;
$diff->s = 0;
}

Answer 3

I've added some refinements to your original code. I've also removed the full option from your function as I don't think you intend to use it for your case. If my inline comments fail to explain my process, just ask.
Code: (Demo)
function time_elapsed_string($datetime){
$now=new DateTime; // current datetime
$ago=new DateTime($datetime); // user datetime
if($now<$ago){return "Unexpected future datetime value";}
$diff=$now->diff($ago); // datetime difference
$diff->w=intval(floor($diff->d/7)); // add weeks to diff output
$diff->d-=$diff->w*7; // reduce days based on weeks calculation
$units=[
'y'=>'year',
'm'=>'month',
'w'=>'week',
'd'=>'day',
'h'=>'hour'
];
$kept_diff=array_intersect_key((array)$diff,$units); // omit unwanted elements of diff()'s output
if(!max($kept_diff)){ // if y, m, w, d, & h all = 0, show default
return 'default: 1 hour ago'; // inserted "default: " for demo. Remove in production.
}else{
$diffs=array_filter(array_merge($units,$kept_diff)); // sort by $units order, then omit elements with 0 value
return current($diffs).' '.$units[key($diffs)].(current($diffs)>1?'s':'').' ago'; // return highest unit data in plain English
}
}
echo time_elapsed_string('2017-06-30 02:22:35'); // output: 3 weeks ago