PHP time conversion - php

Question

Is there a PHP library that will convert a unix timestamp into something like this format:
8 hours and 17 minutes ago
I made my own script a while back that did this, I just can't track it down and would rather not spend the time recreating it (plus I think it could have been done far more efficiently).
My original code was something along the lines of:
$seconds = time() - $timestamp;
$minutes = 0;
$hours = 0;
$days = 0;
$weeks = 0;
$months = 0;
$years = 0;
while($seconds >= 60)
{
$seconds -= 60;
$minutes ++;
if($minutes >= 60)
{
$minutes -= 60;
$hours ++;
if($hours >= 24)
{
// etc
}
}
}
if($hours < 1) return "$minutes minute" . ($minutes == 1 ? "" : "s")) . " and $seconds seconds" . ($seconds == 1 ? "" : "s"));
if($minutes < 1) return "$seconds second" . ($seconds == 1 ? "" : "s"));
// etc
Better yet, if there's a nicer way to approach the above I'll give it a crack myself as well.

Answer 1

Yes, check The DateTime class.
$datetime1= new DateTime();
$datetime2= new DateTime();
$datetime2->setTimestamp($timestamp);
$interval = $datetime2->diff($datetime1);
echo $interval->format('%a days %h hours and %i minutes ago');

Answer 2

function TimeAgo($datefrom,$dateto=-1)
{
// Defaults and assume if 0 is passed in that
// its an error rather than the epoch
if($datefrom<=0) { return "A long time ago"; }
if($dateto==-1) { $dateto = time(); }
// Calculate the difference in seconds betweeen
// the two timestamps
$difference = $dateto - $datefrom;
// If difference is less than 60 seconds,
// seconds is a good interval of choice
if($difference < 60)
{
$interval = "s";
}
// If difference is between 60 seconds and
// 60 minutes, minutes is a good interval
elseif($difference >= 60 && $difference<60*60)
{
$interval = "n";
}
// If difference is between 1 hour and 24 hours
// hours is a good interval
elseif($difference >= 60*60 && $difference<60*60*24)
{
$interval = "h";
}
// If difference is between 1 day and 7 days
// days is a good interval
elseif($difference >= 60*60*24 && $difference<60*60*24*7)
{
$interval = "d";
}
// If difference is between 1 week and 30 days
// weeks is a good interval
elseif($difference >= 60*60*24*7 && $difference <
60*60*24*30)
{
$interval = "ww";
}
// If difference is between 30 days and 365 days
// months is a good interval, again, the same thing
// applies, if the 29th February happens to exist
// between your 2 dates, the function will return
// the 'incorrect' value for a day
elseif($difference >= 60*60*24*30 && $difference <
60*60*24*365)
{
$interval = "m";
}
// If difference is greater than or equal to 365
// days, return year. This will be incorrect if
// for example, you call the function on the 28th April
// 2008 passing in 29th April 2007. It will return
// 1 year ago when in actual fact (yawn!) not quite
// a year has gone by
elseif($difference >= 60*60*24*365)
{
$interval = "y";
}
// Based on the interval, determine the
// number of units between the two dates
// From this point on, you would be hard
// pushed telling the difference between
// this function and DateDiff. If the $datediff
// returned is 1, be sure to return the singular
// of the unit, e.g. 'day' rather 'days'
switch($interval)
{
case "m":
$months_difference = floor($difference / 60 / 60 / 24 /
29);
while (mktime(date("H", $datefrom), date("i", $datefrom),
date("s", $datefrom), date("n", $datefrom)+($months_difference),
date("j", $dateto), date("Y", $datefrom)) < $dateto)
{
$months_difference++;
}
$datediff = $months_difference;
// We need this in here because it is possible
// to have an 'm' interval and a months
// difference of 12 because we are using 29 days
// in a month
if($datediff==12)
{
$datediff--;
}
$res = ($datediff==1) ? "$datediff month ago" : "$datediff
months ago";
break;
case "y":
$datediff = floor($difference / 60 / 60 / 24 / 365);
$res = ($datediff==1) ? "$datediff year ago" : "$datediff
years ago";
break;
case "d":
$datediff = floor($difference / 60 / 60 / 24);
$res = ($datediff==1) ? "$datediff day ago" : "$datediff
days ago";
break;
case "ww":
$datediff = floor($difference / 60 / 60 / 24 / 7);
$res = ($datediff==1) ? "$datediff week ago" : "$datediff
weeks ago";
break;
case "h":
$datediff = floor($difference / 60 / 60);
$res = ($datediff==1) ? "$datediff hour ago" : "$datediff
hours ago";
break;
case "n":
$datediff = floor($difference / 60);
$res = ($datediff==1) ? "$datediff minute ago" :
"$datediff minutes ago";
break;
case "s":
$datediff = $difference;
$res = ($datediff==1) ? "$datediff second ago" :
"$datediff seconds ago";
break;
}
return $res;
}

Answer 3

/*
Input parameter is the UNIX timestamp
of the starting date.
The second parameter is optional -
It's value is the ending date,
also UNIX timestamp. If this
parameter is not given, the
default date is current date.
*/
function duration($start,$end=null) {
$end = is_null($end) ? time() : $end;
$seconds = $end - $start;
$days = floor($seconds/60/60/24);
$hours = $seconds/60/60%24;
$mins = $seconds/60%60;
$secs = $seconds%60;
$duration='';
if($days>0) $duration .= "$days days ";
if($hours>0) $duration .= "$hours hours ";
if($mins>0) $duration .= "$mins minutes ";
if($secs>0) $duration .= "$secs seconds ";
//$duration = trim($duration);
if($duration=='') $duration = '0 seconds';
return $duration;
}
It it not suits you better use some classes, given below
http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/file/6330.html