Question

I need a query that displays dates in the following format:

Dates that fall in the past 7 days -> “one week ago”
Dates that fall in the past 7 to 14 days -> “two week ago”
Etc…

Dates that fall in the past 30 days -> “one month ago”
Dates that follow in the past 30 to 60 days -> “two months ago
Etc..

Dates that fall in the past 365 days -> “one year ago”
Dates that fall in the past 365 to 730 days -> “two years ago
Etc…

If you guys can point me to the right direction I’ll appreciate it.

Thank you

Answer 1

As stated above, use a case statement in your SQL query. Something like this:

SELECT 
Column1, 
Column2, 
theDate,
CASE
  WHEN DATEDIFF(dd, theDate, GetDate()) =< 7 THEN 'One Week Ago'
  WHEN DATEDIFF(dd, theDate, GetDate()) > 7 AND DATEDIFF(dd, theDate, GetDate()) < 30 THEN 'One Month Ago'
  -- ...
  END
AS TimeAgo,
Column3,
Column4
FROM Table1

More Information for MS SQL: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181765.aspx
(Or see the documentation for your SQL server brand)