Question

Given a specific DateTime value, how do I display relative time, like:

• 2 hours ago
• 3 days ago
• a month ago

Answer 1

Jeff, your code is nice but could be clearer with constants (as suggested in Code Complete).

const int SECOND = 1; const int MINUTE = 60 * SECOND; const int HOUR = 60 * MINUTE; const int DAY = 24 * HOUR; const int MONTH = 30 * DAY;  var ts = new TimeSpan(DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks - yourDate.Ticks); double delta = Math.Abs(ts.TotalSeconds);  if (delta < 1 * MINUTE)   return ts.Seconds == 1 ? 'one second ago' : ts.Seconds + ' seconds ago';  if (delta < 2 * MINUTE)   return 'a minute ago';  if (delta < 45 * MINUTE)   return ts.Minutes + ' minutes ago';  if (delta < 90 * MINUTE)   return 'an hour ago';  if (delta < 24 * HOUR)   return ts.Hours + ' hours ago';  if (delta < 48 * HOUR)   return 'yesterday';  if (delta < 30 * DAY)   return ts.Days + ' days ago';  if (delta < 12 * MONTH) {   int months = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)ts.Days / 30));   return months <= 1 ? 'one month ago' : months + ' months ago'; } else {   int years = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)ts.Days / 365));   return years <= 1 ? 'one year ago' : years + ' years ago'; }