Laravel Absolute vs Relative Dates with Carbon

absolute-format.php

<?php

use Carbon\Carbon;

// Create a new Carbon instance with the current timestamp
$date = Carbon::now();

// Displays: 15-1-2017
dump($date->format('d-m-Y'));

// Displays: 15-1-2017 18:56:05
dump($date->format('d-m-Y H:i:s'));

// Displays: Sun, 2017 Jan 15 18:56:05
dump($date->format('D, Y M j H:i:s'));

// Displays: Sunday 15th of January 2017 06:56:05 PM
dump($date->format('l jS \\of F Y h:i:s A'));

absolute-helpers.php

<?php

use Carbon\Carbon;

// Create a new Carbon instance with the current timestamp
$date = Carbon::now();

// Displays: Jan 15, 2017
dump($date->toFormattedDateString());

// Displays: Sun, Jan 15, 2017 06:56 PM
dump($date->toDayDateTimeString());

// Displays: Sunday, 15-Jan-2017 18:56:05 UTC
dump($date->toCookieString());

// Displays: Sun, 15 Jan 2017 18:56:05 +0000
dump($date->toRssString());

// Displays: 2017-01-15T18:56:05+00:00
dump($date->toIso8601String());

absolute-timezones.php

<?php

use Carbon\Carbon;

// Create a new Carbon instance with the current timestamp
$date = Carbon::now();

// Displays: UTC
dump($date->timezoneName);

// Displays: America/Vancouver
dump($date->setTimezone('America/Vancouver')->timezoneName);

// Displays: Sun, Jan 15, 2017 6:56 PM
dump($date->setTimezone('Europe/London')->toDayDateTimeString());

// Displays: Sun, Jan 15, 2017 10:56 AM
dump($date->setTimezone('America/Vancouver')->toDayDateTimeString());

relative-age.php

<?php

use Carbon\Carbon;

// Create a new Carbon instance with some older date
$date = Carbon::createFromDate(1994, 11, 5);

// Displays: 22 years, 2 months and 10 days
dump($date->diff(Carbon::now())->format('%y years, %m months and %d days'));

// Displays: 22 years, 2 months and 10 days
dump(age($date));

// Displays: 22 years old
dump(age(new Carbon('22 years ago')));

// Displays: 22 years and 30 days old
dump(age(new Carbon('22 years, 30 days ago')));

// Displays: "22 years and 3 months old
dump(age(new Carbon('22 years, 3 months ago')));

// Displays: 22 years, 4 months and 10 days old
dump(age(new Carbon('22 years, 132 days ago')));

function age(Carbon $born)
{
    // Get the current date
    $now = Carbon::now();

    // Get the diff between the two dates, this will calculate the diff
    // in years, months and weeks
    $diff = $now->diff($born);

    // Determine if we have any days and if so add them to the string
    $age = ($days = $diff->d) ? ' and ' . $days . ' ' . str_plural('day', $days) : '';

    // Determine if we have any months and if so add them to the string
    $age = ($months = $diff->m) ? ($age ? ', ' : ' and ') . $months . ' ' . str_plural('month', $months) . $age : $age;

    // Determine if we have any years and if so add them to the string
    $age = ($years = $diff->y) ? $years . ' ' . str_plural('year', $years) . $age : $age;

    // Return the age string and clean up and redundant parts
    return trim(trim($age, ', '), ' and ') . ' old';
}

relative-helpers.php

<?php

use Carbon\Carbon;

// Displays: 5 days ago
dump(Carbon::now()->subDays(5)->diffForHumans());

// Displays: 5 days from now
dump(Carbon::now()->addDays(5)->diffForHumans());

// Displays: 1 week ago
dump(Carbon::now()->subDays(10)->diffForHumans());

// Displays: 2 years ago
dump(Carbon::now()->subDays(830)->diffForHumans());

// Displays: 12 minutes ago
dump(Carbon::now()->subMinutes(12)->diffForHumans());

// Displays: 1 hour ago
dump(Carbon::now()->subHour(1)->subMinutes(12)->diffForHumans());

// Displays: 48 hours
dump(Carbon::now()->subDays(2)->diffInHours() . ' hours');

// Displays: 0 days
dump(Carbon::now()->subHours(3)->diffInDays() . ' days');

// Display: 1 day
dump(Carbon::now()->subHours(30)->diffInDays() . ' day');

// Display: 86 day
dump(Carbon::now()->subMonth(2)->subWeek(3)->subDays(4)->diffInDays() . ' days');

relative.php

<?php

use Carbon\Carbon;

// Create a new Carbon instance with the current timestamp
$date = Carbon::now();

// Displays: 5 days ago
dump($date->subDays(5)->diffForHumans());

// Displays: 1 second ago
dump($date->addDays(10)->diffForHumans());

User.php

<?php

namespace App;

use Carbon\Carbon;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class User extends Model
{
    /**
     * The attributes that should be mutated to dates.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $dates = [
        'age',
    ];

    /**
     * Get the age as a string of the user.
     *
     * @param $value
     * @return string
     */
    public function getAgeAttribute($value)
    {
        // Parse the value to a Carbon instance
        // The value is probably something like 1994-11-05 in your database
        // The parse method will create a Carbon instance based on the date
        $born = Carbon::parse($value);
        $now = Carbon::now();

        // Get the diff between the two dates, this will calculate the diff
        // in years, months and weeks
        $diff = $now->diff($born);

        // Determine if we have any days and if so add them to the string
        $age = ($days = $diff->d) ? ' and ' . $days . ' ' . str_plural('day', $days) : '';

        // Determine if we have any months and if so add them to the string
        $age = ($months = $diff->m) ? ($age ? ', ' : ' and ') . $months . ' ' . str_plural('month', $months) . $age : $age;

        // Determine if we have any years and if so add them to the string
        $age = ($years = $diff->y) ? $years . ' ' . str_plural('year', $years) . $age : $age;

        // Return the age string and clean up and redundant parts
        return trim(trim($age, ', '), ' and ') . ' old';
    }
}

Relative dates, Lara 6, IMHO more readable version

use Illuminate\Support\Str;

/**
 * @param Carbon $date
 * @param null|Carbon $from
 * @return string
 */
function format_date_relative(Carbon $date, $from = null)
{
    if (!isset($from)) {
        $from = now();
    }

    $diff = $from->diff($date);
    $parts[] = $diff->y ? $diff->y . ' ' . Str::plural('year', $diff->y) : '';
    $parts[] = $diff->m ? $diff->m . ' ' . Str::plural('month', $diff->m) : '';
    $parts[] = $diff->d ? $diff->d . ' ' . Str::plural('day', $diff->d) : '';
    $parts[] = $diff->h ? $diff->h . ' ' . Str::plural('hour', $diff->h) : '';
    $parts[] = $diff->i ? $diff->i . ' ' . Str::plural('minute', $diff->i) : '';
    $parts[] = $diff->s ? $diff->s . ' ' . Str::plural('second', $diff->s) : '';

    if ($parts = array_filter($parts)) {
        $formatted = implode(' ', $parts);
        return $diff->invert ? "$formatted ago" : $formatted;
    }

    return "now";
}