Human readable timespans

human_readable.pho

define("SECOND", 1);
define("MINUTE", 60 * SECOND);
define("HOUR", 60 * MINUTE);
define("DAY", 24 * HOUR);
define("MONTH", 30 * DAY);

/**
 * Returns the human readable timespan from now to a date/time
 */
function human_readable( $time ) {   
    $delta = abs(  time(  ) - $time  );

    if ( $delta < MINUTE ) {
        return $delta == 1 ? "one second ago" : $delta . " seconds ago";
    }
    
    if ( $delta < 2 * MINUTE ) {
      return "a minute ago";
    }

    if ( $delta < 45 * MINUTE ) {
        return floor( $delta / MINUTE ) . " minutes ago";
    }
    
    if ( $delta < 90 * MINUTE ) {
      return "an hour ago";
    }

    if ( $delta < 24 * HOUR ) {
      return floor( $delta / HOUR ) . " hours ago";
    }

    if ( $delta < 48 * HOUR ) {
      return "yesterday";
    }

    if ( $delta < 30 * DAY ) {
        return floor( $delta / DAY ) . " days ago";
    }

    if ( $delta < 12 * MONTH ) {
      $months = floor( $delta / DAY / 30 );
      return $months <= 1 ? "one month ago" : $months . " months ago";
    } else {
        $years = floor( $delta / DAY / 365 );
        return $years <= 1 ? "one year ago" : $years . " years ago";
    }
}