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
About Ashis Biswas

A web developer who has a love for creativity and enjoys experimenting with the various techniques in both web designing and web development. If you would like to be kept up to date with his post, you can follow him.

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