Twig filer extension to compute how long from a date.

timeAgoExtension.php

<?php

namespace Acme\Bundle\DemoBundle\Twig;

class TimeAgoExtension extends \Twig_Extension
{
    public function getFilters()
    {
        return array(
            new \Twig_SimpleFilter('time_ago', array($this, 'timeAgoFilter')),
        );
    }

    /**
     * @see https://github.com/symfony/symfony1/blob/1.4/lib/helper/DateHelper.php
     */
    public function timeAgoFilter($fromTime, $toTime = null, $include_seconds = false)
    {
        if ($fromTime instanceof \DateTime) {
            $fromTime = $fromTime->format('U');
        }

        if ($toTime instanceof \DateTime) {
            $toTime = $toTime->format('U');
        }

        $toTime = $toTime ? $toTime: time();

        $distanceInMinutes = floor(abs($toTime - $fromTime) / 60);
        $distanceInSeconds = floor(abs($toTime - $fromTime));

        $string = '';
        $parameters = array();

        if ($distanceInMinutes <= 1)
        {
            if (!$include_seconds) {
              $string = $distanceInMinutes == 0 ? 'less than a minute' : '1 minute';
            } else {
                if ($distanceInSeconds <= 5) {
                  $string = 'less than 5 seconds';
                } else if ($distanceInSeconds >= 6 && $distanceInSeconds <= 10) {
                  $string = 'less than 10 seconds';
                } else if ($distanceInSeconds >= 11 && $distanceInSeconds <= 20) {
                  $string = 'less than 20 seconds';
                } else if ($distanceInSeconds >= 21 && $distanceInSeconds <= 40) {
                  $string = 'half a minute';
                } else if ($distanceInSeconds >= 41 && $distanceInSeconds <= 59) {
                  $string = 'less than a minute';
                } else {
                  $string = '1 minute';
                }
            }
        } else if ($distanceInMinutes >= 2 && $distanceInMinutes <= 44) {
            $string = '%minutes% minutes';
            $parameters['%minutes%'] = $distanceInMinutes;
        } else if ($distanceInMinutes >= 45 && $distanceInMinutes <= 89) {
            $string = 'about 1 hour';
        } else if ($distanceInMinutes >= 90 && $distanceInMinutes <= 1439) {
            $string = 'about %hours% hours';
            $parameters['%hours%'] = round($distanceInMinutes / 60);
        } else if ($distanceInMinutes >= 1440 && $distanceInMinutes <= 2879) {
            $string = '1 day';
        } else if ($distanceInMinutes >= 2880 && $distanceInMinutes <= 43199) {
            $string = '%days% days';
            $parameters['%days%'] = round($distanceInMinutes / 1440);
        } else if ($distanceInMinutes >= 43200 && $distanceInMinutes <= 86399) {
            $string = 'about 1 month';
        } else if ($distanceInMinutes >= 86400 && $distanceInMinutes <= 525959) {
            $string = '%months% months';
            $parameters['%months%'] = round($distanceInMinutes / 43200);
        } else if ($distanceInMinutes >= 525960 && $distanceInMinutes <= 1051919) {
            $string = 'about 1 year';
        } else {
            $string = 'over %years% years';
            $parameters['%years%'] = floor($distanceInMinutes / 525960);
        }

        return strtr($string, $parameters);
    }

    public function getName()
    {
        return 'time_ago_extension';
    }
}