Swift convert time to time ago

22,347

Solution 1

I'll just update the Truongky's answer for Swif 3:

extension Date {

func getElapsedInterval() -> String {

    let interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.year, .month, .day], from: self, to: Date())

    if let year = interval.year, year > 0 {
        return year == 1 ? "\(year)" + " " + "year ago" :
            "\(year)" + " " + "years ago"
    } else if let month = interval.month, month > 0 {
        return month == 1 ? "\(month)" + " " + "month ago" :
            "\(month)" + " " + "months ago"
    } else if let day = interval.day, day > 0 {
        return day == 1 ? "\(day)" + " " + "day ago" :
            "\(day)" + " " + "days ago"
    } else {
        return "a moment ago"

    }

}
}

If you prefer a localizable response instead of only english this code will do the work

extension Date {
func getElapsedInterval() -> String {

    var calendar = Calendar.current
    calendar.locale = Locale(identifier: Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations[0]) 
// IF THE USER HAVE THE PHONE IN SPANISH BUT YOUR APP ONLY SUPPORTS I.E. ENGLISH AND GERMAN
// WE SHOULD CHANGE THE LOCALE OF THE FORMATTER TO THE PREFERRED ONE 
// (IS THE LOCALE THAT THE USER IS SEEING THE APP), IF NOT, THIS ELAPSED TIME 
// IS GOING TO APPEAR IN SPANISH

    let formatter = DateComponentsFormatter()
    formatter.unitsStyle = .full
    formatter.maximumUnitCount = 1
    formatter.calendar = calendar

    var dateString: String?

    let interval = calendar.dateComponents([.year, .month, .weekOfYear, .day], from: self, to: Date())

    if let year = interval.year, year > 0 {
        formatter.allowedUnits = [.year] //2 years
    } else if let month = interval.month, month > 0 {
        formatter.allowedUnits = [.month] //1 month
    } else if let week = interval.weekOfYear, week > 0 {
        formatter.allowedUnits = [.weekOfMonth] //3 weeks
    } else if let day = interval.day, day > 0 {
        formatter.allowedUnits = [.day] // 6 days
    } else {
        let dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
        dateFormatter.locale = Locale(identifier: Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations[0]) //--> IF THE USER HAVE THE PHONE IN SPANISH BUT YOUR APP ONLY SUPPORTS I.E. ENGLISH AND GERMAN WE SHOULD CHANGE THE LOCALE OF THE FORMATTER TO THE PREFERRED ONE (IS THE LOCALE THAT THE USER IS SEEING THE APP), IF NOT, THIS ELAPSED TIME IS GOING TO APPEAR IN SPANISH
        dateFormatter.dateStyle = .medium
        dateFormatter.doesRelativeDateFormatting = true

        dateString = dateFormatter.string(from: self) // IS GOING TO SHOW 'TODAY'
    }

    if dateString == nil {
        dateString = formatter.string(from: self, to: Date())
    }

    return dateString!
}

Solution 2

Swift 4+ Version

extension Date {

    func timeAgoSinceDate() -> String {

        // From Time
        let fromDate = self

        // To Time
        let toDate = Date()

        // Estimation
        // Year
        if let interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.year], from: fromDate, to: toDate).year, interval > 0  {

            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "year ago" : "\(interval)" + " " + "years ago"
        }

        // Month
        if let interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.month], from: fromDate, to: toDate).month, interval > 0  {

            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "month ago" : "\(interval)" + " " + "months ago"
        }

        // Day
        if let interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.day], from: fromDate, to: toDate).day, interval > 0  {

            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "day ago" : "\(interval)" + " " + "days ago"
        }

        // Hours
        if let interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.hour], from: fromDate, to: toDate).hour, interval > 0 {

            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "hour ago" : "\(interval)" + " " + "hours ago"
        }

        // Minute
        if let interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.minute], from: fromDate, to: toDate).minute, interval > 0 {

            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "minute ago" : "\(interval)" + " " + "minutes ago"
        }

        return "a moment ago"
    }
}

Usage

yourDate.timeAgoSinceDate()

Solution 3

Change your text as you want.

extension NSDate {

    func getElapsedInterval() -> String {

        var interval = NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components(.Year, fromDate: self, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).year

        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "year" :
            "\(interval)" + " " + "years"
        }

        interval = NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components(.Month, fromDate: self, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).month
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "month" :
            "\(interval)" + " " + "months"
        }

        interval = NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components(.Day, fromDate: self, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).day
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "day" :
            "\(interval)" + " " + "days"
        }

        interval = NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components(.Hour, fromDate: self, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).hour
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "hour" :
            "\(interval)" + " " + "hours"
        }

        interval = NSCalendar.currentCalendar().components(.Minute, fromDate: self, toDate: NSDate(), options: []).minute
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " " + "minute" :
            "\(interval)" + " " + "minutes"
        }

        return "a moment ago"
    }
}

Solution 4

On Swift 5 use the RelativeDateTimeFormatter,

let formatter = RelativeDateTimeFormatter()

formatter.localizedString(from: DateComponents(day: -1)) // "1 day ago"
formatter.localizedString(from: DateComponents(hour: 2)) // "in 2 hours"
formatter.localizedString(from: DateComponents(minute: 45)) // "in 45 minutes"

set the dateTimeStyle get localized deictic statements e.g. -

formatter.dateTimeStyle = .named 
formatter.localizedString(from: DateComponents(day: -1)) // "yesterday"

Solution 5

Swift 3 version of truongky's code:

extension Date {

    var timeAgoSinceNow: String {
        return getTimeAgoSinceNow()
    }

    private func getTimeAgoSinceNow() -> String {

        var interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.year], from: self, to: Date()).year!
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " year" : "\(interval)" + " years"
        }

        interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.month], from: self, to: Date()).month!
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " month" : "\(interval)" + " months"
        }

        interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.day], from: self, to: Date()).day!
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " day" : "\(interval)" + " days"
        }

        interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.hour], from: self, to: Date()).hour!
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " hour" : "\(interval)" + " hours"
        }

        interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.minute], from: self, to: Date()).minute!
        if interval > 0 {
            return interval == 1 ? "\(interval)" + " minute" : "\(interval)" + " minutes"
        }

        return "a moment ago"
    }
}
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22,347
Salah
Author by

Salah

..

Updated on November 06, 2021

Comments

  • Salah
    Salah over 2 years

    In Swift5, we have RelativeDateTimeFormatter

    Prior to Swift5:


    I'm trying to convert time to time ago, what i wanna do is:

    from 1 to 15 seconds it will say " Just now "

    from 60 minutes to 119 minutes it will say " an hour ago "

    from 24 hours to 47 hours it will say " Yesterday "

    from 7 days to 7 days and 23 hours it will say " a week ago "

    I'm not sure about my counting if am i wrong feel free to fix it for me

    Here is the code

        extension NSDate {
    
        struct Date {
            static let timeFormatter: NSDateFormatter = {
                let df = NSDateFormatter()
                df.calendar = NSCalendar(calendarIdentifier: NSCalendarIdentifierGregorian)
                df.dateFormat = "h:mm a"
                return df
                }()
        }
        var time: String { return Date.timeFormatter.stringFromDate(self) }
    
        var year:    Int { return NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().component(.Year,   fromDate: self) }
        var month:   Int { return NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().component(.Month,  fromDate: self) }
        var day:     Int { return NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().component(.Day,    fromDate: self) }
        var hour:     Int { return NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().component(.Hour,    fromDate: self) }
        var minute:     Int { return NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().component(.Minute,    fromDate: self) }
        var second:     Int { return NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().component(.Second,    fromDate: self) }
    
    
        struct DateComponents {
            static let formatter: NSDateComponentsFormatter = {
                let dcFormatter = NSDateComponentsFormatter()
                dcFormatter.calendar = NSCalendar(identifier: NSCalendarIdentifierISO8601)!
                dcFormatter.unitsStyle = .Full
                dcFormatter.maximumUnitCount = 1
                dcFormatter.zeroFormattingBehavior = .Default
                dcFormatter.allowsFractionalUnits = false
                dcFormatter.allowedUnits = [.Year, .Month, .Weekday, .Day, .Hour, .Minute, .Second]
                return dcFormatter
                }()
        }
    
        var elapsedTime: String {
    
    
            if isecond(NSDate()) {
                return "Just now"
    
            }
    
            if ishour(NSDate()) {
               return "an hour ago"
    
            }
            if isyesterday(NSDate()) {
                return "Yesterday"
            }
            if isweek(NSDate()) {
    
                return "a week ago"
            }
    
    
    
    
            return (DateComponents.formatter.stringFromTimeInterval(NSDate().timeIntervalSinceDate(self)) ?? "") + " ago"
        }
        func isyesterday(date: NSDate) -> Bool {
            return  NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().isDate(self, inSameDayAsDate: date.yesterday)
        }
        var yesterday: NSDate {
            return  NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().dateWithEra(1, year: year, month: month, day: day-1, hour: 0, minute: 0, second: 0, nanosecond: 0)!
        }
    
    
    
        func isweek(date: NSDate) -> Bool {
            return  NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().isDate(self, inSameDayAsDate: date.weekago)
        }
        var weekago: NSDate {
            return  NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().dateWithEra(1, year: year, month: month, day: day-7, hour: 0, minute: 0, second: 0, nanosecond: 0)!
        }
    
        func isecond(date: NSDate) -> Bool {
            return  NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().isDate(self, inSameDayAsDate: date.secondsago)
        }
        var secondsago: NSDate {
            return  NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().dateWithEra(1, year: year, month: month, day: 0, hour: 0, minute: 0, second: second-15, nanosecond: 0)!
        }
    
        func ishour(date: NSDate) -> Bool {
            return  NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().isDate(self, inSameDayAsDate: date.hourago)
        }
        var hourago: NSDate {
            return  NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().dateWithEra(1, year: year, month: month, day: 0, hour: hour-1, minute: minute-1, second: 0, nanosecond: 0)!
        }
    }
    

    here what i got in my app : enter image description here

    the quotes which is "an hour ago" , " Just now", etc not showing, only " Yesterday" and i'm not sure if it is from 7 days to 23 hours only!

    and here is my first question link : Swift How to convert Parse createdAt time to time ago?

    Please help me to fix the code, thanks to @Leo Dabus for the code.

    • luk2302
      luk2302 over 8 years
      Who upvoted this question??? "help me to fix the code" - in what way, you just show code, is it not working, is crashing, compiler errors, runtime errors, not working as expected?
    • luk2302
      luk2302 over 8 years
      original question and answer: stackoverflow.com/questions/34439560/…
    • Salah
      Salah over 8 years
      Sorry the code working there's no crash or compiler error, but the code not count as i expected
    • luk2302
      luk2302 over 8 years
      Then what is it doing as opposed to what you expect, give a few (!!!) sample input/output scenarios
    • Salah
      Salah over 8 years
      its kinda hard to me to example that, i think it counting well but not showing my quotes on time like if the time is between 1-16secs not showing " Just now"
    • luk2302
      luk2302 over 8 years
      Then what is it showing, show some Input and show the output, where is the problem in that? What are you sending in, what is coming out? What would you want to come out, have you tried debugging it? Added log statements?
    • Leo Dabus
      Leo Dabus over 8 years
      @Salah why did you change some read-only computed properties like var isDateInToday: Bool { return NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().isDateInToday(self) } var isDateInYesterday: Bool { return NSCalendar.autoupdatingCurrentCalendar().isDateInYesterday(s‌​elf) } ?
    • Leo Dabus
      Leo Dabus over 8 years
      @Salah you should edit your question and show only the elapsedTime part of the question and post a link to the other question/answer
    • Salah
      Salah over 8 years
      @LeoDabus Thanks question edited, And i don't know what i have changed in the code because i'm trying to do it
  • Geeroz
    Geeroz about 8 years
    Is this how to use it correctly. let lastUpdate = defaults.objectForKey("LastUpdate") as? NSDate print("Last update (lastUpdate!.getElapsedInterval())") Work grate for me.
  • Kwalker108
    Kwalker108 about 7 years
    Thanks Sonia! One thing - currently you are printing the whole interval with "(interval)" in the return statements for month and day. They should be "(month)" and "(day)" respectively.
  • Sonia Casas
    Sonia Casas about 7 years
    Oh, yes absolutely @Kwalker108. If You don't mind i'm going to update the answer and add a way to have this behaviour but for all lenguajes.
  • CertainPerformance
    CertainPerformance almost 6 years
    A plain code block without any explanation usually isn't very useful...
  • Markus Rautopuro
    Markus Rautopuro over 5 years
    The code doesn't work, for example toDate is not defined (should be a parameter).
  • Sarath Raveendran
    Sarath Raveendran over 5 years
    @CertainPerformance The code is self-explanatory. I believe someone who knows Swift can easily understand the above code.
  • Lucas Chwe
    Lucas Chwe about 5 years
    i think you are just missing adding the "ago" part for the case that is not "a moment ago"
  • Sonia Casas
    Sonia Casas about 5 years
    Hey @LucasChwe, you are right, I didn't add it. I'll modify my answer.
  • coders
    coders about 5 years
    this works, thanks so much! I test the locolizations
  • Ashley Mills
    Ashley Mills over 4 years
    Please don't give the same answer to multiple questions. If the question is a duplicate, mark it so - or link to your other answer in a comment.
  • Okhan Okbay
    Okhan Okbay over 3 years
    available for iOS 13+
  • Tom GODDARD
    Tom GODDARD over 2 years
    Clean 🚀thank you!