David Ogilo

This function is useful if you want to display how long ago / from now a content was published etc.

/**
 * 
 * Returns the amount of the days, months etc ago/from now relative to current time
 * @param long $timestamp
 * @return string|null
 */
public function timeAgo( $timestamp )
{
	if ( !is_int( $timestamp ) ) return null;
	
	$days = date( 'L' )? 366 : 365;
	$suffix = ' ago';

	$aMinute = 60;
	$aHour = $aMinute * 60;
	$aDay = $aHour * 24;
	$aWeek = $aDay * 7;
	$aYear = $aDay * $days;
	$aMonth = $aYear / 12;

	$units = array( $aYear, $aMonth, $aWeek, $aDay, $aHour, $aMinute, 1 );
	$period = array( 'year', 'month', 'week', 'day', 'hour', 'minute', 'second' );

	$now = time();

	$diff = $now - $timestamp;

	if ( $diff < 0 )
		$suffix = ' from now';
		
	$diff = abs( $diff );

	if ( $diff == 1 )
		return '1 second' . $suffix;

	foreach( $units as $index => $unit )
	{
		if ( $diff > $unit )
		{
			$diff = round( $diff / $unit );
			$period = $period[$index];

			$text = ( $diff > 1 )? $period . 's' : $period;
			return $diff . ' ' . $text . $suffix;
		}
	}
}