A function to display and amount of time with years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

format_time

<?php

/**
 * An imprecise time formatter for imprecise, nonessential time calculations.
 * Formats an amount of time (in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years) 
 * to be displayed in years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
 * For the purposes of this simple formatter, a month is considered 365 / 12 days.
 *
 * @param	int		$elapsed The amount of time (in seconds) to format.
 * @param	string	$format The format of the outputted date string.
 *					A key letter escaped with a backslash will be replaced with
 *					the value of that time unit. The letters are:
 *						s = seconds, m = minutes, h = hours, d = days,
 *						w = weeks, l = months, y = years
 *					Uppercase letters will be padded to two digits.
 *					Examples for the value 12,345 seconds:
 *						'\H:\M:\S' will echo '03:25:45'
 *						'\hh \mm \ss' will echo '3h 25m 45s'
 *						'\yy \lmo \ww \dd \hh \mm \ss' will echo '0y 0mo 0w 0d 3h 25m 45s'
 * @param	string	$units The unit of the input time: 's, m, h, d, w, l, y'.
 *
 * @return	string	The time formatted according to the $format param
 */

function format_time($elapsed = 0, $format = "H:M:S", $units = 's'){

	$m_len = 60;
	$h_len = $m_len * 60;
	$d_len = $h_len * 24;
	$w_len = $d_len * 7;
	$l_len = $d_len * 365 / 12;
	$y_len = $d_len * 365;

	//Convert everything to seconds for simplicity
	switch($units){
		case 's':
			break;
		case 'm':
			$elapsed *= $m_len;
			break;
		case 'h':
			$elapsed *= $h_len;
			break;
		case 'd':
			$elapsed *= $d_len;
			break;
		case 'w':
			$elapsed *= $w_len;
			break;
		case 'l':
			$elapsed *= $l_len;
			break;
		case 'y':
			$elapsed *= $y_len;
			break;
	}

	//Default everything to 0
	$years = $months = $weeks = $days = $hours = $minutes = $seconds = 0;
	
	// Check that we received a valid value in $elapsed
	if(!is_numeric($elapsed)){
		return false;
	}else{
		$years = floor($elapsed / $y_len);
		$elapsed -= $years * $y_len;

		$months = floor($elapsed / $l_len);
		$elapsed -= $months * $l_len;

		$weeks = floor($elapsed / $w_len);
		$elapsed -= $weeks * $w_len;
		
		$days = floor($elapsed / $d_len);
		$elapsed -= $days * $d_len;
		
		$hours = floor($elapsed / $h_len);
		$elapsed -= $hours * $h_len;
		
		$minutes = floor($elapsed / $m_len);
		$elapsed -= $minutes * $m_len;
		
		$seconds = $elapsed;
	}

	$time_string = preg_replace(
		array(
			'/(\\\\s)/',
			'/(\\\\S)/',
			'/(\\\\m)/',
			'/(\\\\M)/',
			'/(\\\\h)/',
			'/(\\\\H)/',
			'/(\\\\d)/',
			'/(\\\\D)/',
			'/(\\\\w)/',
			'/(\\\\W)/',
			'/(\\\\l)/',
			'/(\\\\L)/',
			'/(\\\\y)/',
			'/(\\\\Y)/'
		),
		array(
			$seconds,
			str_pad($seconds, 2, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT),
			$minutes,
			str_pad($minutes, 2, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT),
			$hours,
			str_pad($hours, 2, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT),
			$days,
			str_pad($days, 2, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT),
			$weeks,
			str_pad($weeks, 2, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT),
			$months,
			str_pad($months, 2, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT),
			$years,
			str_pad($years, 2, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT),
		),
		$format
	);
	
	return $time_string;
}

?>