How to convert timestamp to time ago in PHP

We have seen on social media platforms that if someone posts something, the time is given below that post, such as 5 minutes ago or 2 days ago. In today’s tutorial, I will show you how to convert timestamp to time ago in PHP.

Now we need to make a custom function for that. For example, we will create a function i.e time_ago(). The function will take a valid date and time format.

Function:

function time_ago($datetime, $full = false) {
	
    $input_date = new DateTime($datetime); //store supplied valid date and time
    $now = new DateTime; //store current date and time
    
    $date_diff = $now->diff($input_date); 

    $date_diff->w = floor($date_diff->d / 7);
    $date_diff->d -= $date_diff->w * 7;
	

    $date_array = array(
        'y' => 'year',
        'm' => 'month',
        'w' => 'week',
        'd' => 'day',
        'h' => 'hour',
        'i' => 'minute',
        's' => 'second',
    );
    foreach ($date_array as $k => &$v) {
        if ($date_diff->$k) {
            $v = $date_diff->$k . ' ' . $v . ($date_diff->$k > 1 ? 's' : '');
        } else {
            unset($date_array[$k]);
        }
    }

    if (!$full) {
		$date_array = array_slice($date_array, 0, 1);
	}
    return $date_array ? implode(', ', $date_array) . ' ago' : 'just now';
}

How to use?

echo time_ago('2021-07-05 22:02:35'); //datetime format
echo time_ago('@1625502817'); // timestamp input
echo time_ago('2021-07-05 22:02:35', true); //datetime format with full date

Result:

5 hours ago
1 minute ago
5 hours, 27 minutes, 14 seconds ago