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Function to return amount of time between two unix time stamps as it would be verbalized.

/ Published in: PHP
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Display amount of time distance between two timestamps in the 2 largest possible time frame terms, adding plural when appropriate. If the second parameter for ending time stamp is left blank the current time() is used.

usage: `echo timeSince(1300000006,1300162842); // will echo 1 day, 21 hours` and `echo timeSince(1300162702,1300162842); // will echo 2 minutes, 20 seconds`

The last parameter is the number of time units to display (ie: 2 might display minutes, seconds while 3 will display hours, minutes seconds). This defaults to 2.

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  1. function timeSince($start,$end='',$units=2) { // $start and $end should be Unix time() format
  2.  
  3.     // Common time periods as an array of arrays
  4.     $periods = array(
  5.         array(60 * 60 * 24 * 365 , 'year'),
  6.         array(60 * 60 * 24 * 30 , 'month'),
  7.         array(60 * 60 * 24 * 7, 'week'),
  8.         array(60 * 60 * 24 , 'day'),
  9.         array(60 * 60 , 'hour'),
  10.         array(60 , 'minute'),
  11.         array(1 , 'second'),
  12.     );
  13.  
  14.     $end = (!empty($end))?$end:time(); // if no end timestamp given use the current one for end date
  15.     $since = $end - $start; // Find the difference of time between now and the past
  16.                             // $end and $start input could be swapped in order to find the time 'until' ;)
  17.     // Loop around the periods, starting with the biggest
  18.     for ($i = 0, $j = count($periods); $i < $j; $i++){    
  19.         $seconds = $periods[$i][0];
  20.         $name = $periods[$i][1];
  21.  
  22.         // Find the biggest whole period
  23.         if (($count = floor($since / $seconds)) != 0){
  24.             break;
  25.         }
  26.     }
  27.  
  28.     $output = ($count == 1) ? '1 '.$name : "$count {$name}s";
  29.     $deducted = ($seconds * $count);
  30.  
  31.     for($z = 1, $j = count($periods); $z < $j; $z++) {
  32.       if ($units > $z && $i + $z < $j){
  33.           // Retrieving the next requested relevant period
  34.           $seconds = $periods[$i + $z][0];
  35.           $name = $periods[$i + $z][1];
  36.  
  37.           // Only show it if it's greater than 0
  38.           if (($count = floor(($since - $deducted) / $seconds)) != 0){
  39.               $deducted = $deducted+($seconds * $count);
  40.               $output .= ($count == 1) ? ', 1 '.$name : ", {$count} {$name}s";
  41.           }
  42.       }
  43.     }
  44.  
  45.     return $output;
  46. }

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