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MVC DateFormat show days - hours - minutes until now [duplicate]

Given a specific DateTime value, how do I display relative time, like:
2 hours ago
3 days ago
a month ago

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";
}

jquery.timeago plugin
Jeff, because Stack Overflow uses jQuery extensively, I recommend the jquery.timeago plugin.
Benefits:
Avoid timestamps dated "1 minute ago" even though the page was opened 10 minutes ago; timeago refreshes automatically.
You can take full advantage of page and/or fragment caching in your web applications, because the timestamps aren't calculated on the server.
You get to use microformats like the cool kids.
Just attach it to your timestamps on DOM ready:
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
jQuery('abbr.timeago').timeago();
});
This will turn all abbr elements with a class of timeago and an ISO 8601 timestamp in the title:
<abbr class="timeago" title="2008-07-17T09:24:17Z">July 17, 2008</abbr>
into something like this:
<abbr class="timeago" title="July 17, 2008">4 months ago</abbr>
which yields: 4 months ago. As time passes, the timestamps will automatically update.
Disclaimer: I wrote this plugin, so I'm biased.

Here's how I do it
var ts = new TimeSpan(DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks - dt.Ticks);
double delta = Math.Abs(ts.TotalSeconds);
if (delta < 60)
{
return ts.Seconds == 1 ? "one second ago" : ts.Seconds + " seconds ago";
}
if (delta < 60 * 2)
{
return "a minute ago";
}
if (delta < 45 * 60)
{
return ts.Minutes + " minutes ago";
}
if (delta < 90 * 60)
{
return "an hour ago";
}
if (delta < 24 * 60 * 60)
{
return ts.Hours + " hours ago";
}
if (delta < 48 * 60 * 60)
{
return "yesterday";
}
if (delta < 30 * 24 * 60 * 60)
{
return ts.Days + " days ago";
}
if (delta < 12 * 30 * 24 * 60 * 60)
{
int months = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)ts.Days / 30));
return months <= 1 ? "one month ago" : months + " months ago";
}
int years = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)ts.Days / 365));
return years <= 1 ? "one year ago" : years + " years ago";
Suggestions? Comments? Ways to improve this algorithm?

public static string RelativeDate(DateTime theDate)
{
Dictionary<long, string> thresholds = new Dictionary<long, string>();
int minute = 60;
int hour = 60 * minute;
int day = 24 * hour;
thresholds.Add(60, "{0} seconds ago");
thresholds.Add(minute * 2, "a minute ago");
thresholds.Add(45 * minute, "{0} minutes ago");
thresholds.Add(120 * minute, "an hour ago");
thresholds.Add(day, "{0} hours ago");
thresholds.Add(day * 2, "yesterday");
thresholds.Add(day * 30, "{0} days ago");
thresholds.Add(day * 365, "{0} months ago");
thresholds.Add(long.MaxValue, "{0} years ago");
long since = (DateTime.Now.Ticks - theDate.Ticks) / 10000000;
foreach (long threshold in thresholds.Keys)
{
if (since < threshold)
{
TimeSpan t = new TimeSpan((DateTime.Now.Ticks - theDate.Ticks));
return string.Format(thresholds[threshold], (t.Days > 365 ? t.Days / 365 : (t.Days > 0 ? t.Days : (t.Hours > 0 ? t.Hours : (t.Minutes > 0 ? t.Minutes : (t.Seconds > 0 ? t.Seconds : 0))))).ToString());
}
}
return "";
}
I prefer this version for its conciseness, and ability to add in new tick points.
This could be encapsulated with a Latest() extension to Timespan instead of that long 1 liner, but for the sake of brevity in posting, this will do.
This fixes the an hour ago, 1 hours ago, by providing an hour until 2 hours have elapsed

Here a rewrite from Jeffs Script for PHP:
define("SECOND", 1);
define("MINUTE", 60 * SECOND);
define("HOUR", 60 * MINUTE);
define("DAY", 24 * HOUR);
define("MONTH", 30 * DAY);
function relativeTime($time)
{
$delta = time() - $time;
if ($delta < 1 * MINUTE)
{
return $delta == 1 ? "one second ago" : $delta . " seconds ago";
}
if ($delta < 2 * MINUTE)
{
return "a minute ago";
}
if ($delta < 45 * MINUTE)
{
return floor($delta / MINUTE) . " minutes ago";
}
if ($delta < 90 * MINUTE)
{
return "an hour ago";
}
if ($delta < 24 * HOUR)
{
return floor($delta / HOUR) . " hours ago";
}
if ($delta < 48 * HOUR)
{
return "yesterday";
}
if ($delta < 30 * DAY)
{
return floor($delta / DAY) . " days ago";
}
if ($delta < 12 * MONTH)
{
$months = floor($delta / DAY / 30);
return $months <= 1 ? "one month ago" : $months . " months ago";
}
else
{
$years = floor($delta / DAY / 365);
return $years <= 1 ? "one year ago" : $years . " years ago";
}
}

public static string ToRelativeDate(DateTime input)
{
TimeSpan oSpan = DateTime.Now.Subtract(input);
double TotalMinutes = oSpan.TotalMinutes;
string Suffix = " ago";
if (TotalMinutes < 0.0)
{
TotalMinutes = Math.Abs(TotalMinutes);
Suffix = " from now";
}
var aValue = new SortedList<double, Func<string>>();
aValue.Add(0.75, () => "less than a minute");
aValue.Add(1.5, () => "about a minute");
aValue.Add(45, () => string.Format("{0} minutes", Math.Round(TotalMinutes)));
aValue.Add(90, () => "about an hour");
aValue.Add(1440, () => string.Format("about {0} hours", Math.Round(Math.Abs(oSpan.TotalHours)))); // 60 * 24
aValue.Add(2880, () => "a day"); // 60 * 48
aValue.Add(43200, () => string.Format("{0} days", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(oSpan.TotalDays)))); // 60 * 24 * 30
aValue.Add(86400, () => "about a month"); // 60 * 24 * 60
aValue.Add(525600, () => string.Format("{0} months", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(oSpan.TotalDays / 30)))); // 60 * 24 * 365
aValue.Add(1051200, () => "about a year"); // 60 * 24 * 365 * 2
aValue.Add(double.MaxValue, () => string.Format("{0} years", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(oSpan.TotalDays / 365))));
return aValue.First(n => TotalMinutes < n.Key).Value.Invoke() + Suffix;
}
http://refactormycode.com/codes/493-twitter-esque-relative-dates
C# 6 version:
static readonly SortedList<double, Func<TimeSpan, string>> offsets =
new SortedList<double, Func<TimeSpan, string>>
{
{ 0.75, _ => "less than a minute"},
{ 1.5, _ => "about a minute"},
{ 45, x => $"{x.TotalMinutes:F0} minutes"},
{ 90, x => "about an hour"},
{ 1440, x => $"about {x.TotalHours:F0} hours"},
{ 2880, x => "a day"},
{ 43200, x => $"{x.TotalDays:F0} days"},
{ 86400, x => "about a month"},
{ 525600, x => $"{x.TotalDays / 30:F0} months"},
{ 1051200, x => "about a year"},
{ double.MaxValue, x => $"{x.TotalDays / 365:F0} years"}
};
public static string ToRelativeDate(this DateTime input)
{
TimeSpan x = DateTime.Now - input;
string Suffix = x.TotalMinutes > 0 ? " ago" : " from now";
x = new TimeSpan(Math.Abs(x.Ticks));
return offsets.First(n => x.TotalMinutes < n.Key).Value(x) + Suffix;
}

Here's an implementation I added as an extension method to the DateTime class that handles both future and past dates and provides an approximation option that allows you to specify the level of detail you're looking for ("3 hour ago" vs "3 hours, 23 minutes, 12 seconds ago"):
using System.Text;
/// <summary>
/// Compares a supplied date to the current date and generates a friendly English
/// comparison ("5 days ago", "5 days from now")
/// </summary>
/// <param name="date">The date to convert</param>
/// <param name="approximate">When off, calculate timespan down to the second.
/// When on, approximate to the largest round unit of time.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static string ToRelativeDateString(this DateTime value, bool approximate)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
string suffix = (value > DateTime.Now) ? " from now" : " ago";
TimeSpan timeSpan = new TimeSpan(Math.Abs(DateTime.Now.Subtract(value).Ticks));
if (timeSpan.Days > 0)
{
sb.AppendFormat("{0} {1}", timeSpan.Days,
(timeSpan.Days > 1) ? "days" : "day");
if (approximate) return sb.ToString() + suffix;
}
if (timeSpan.Hours > 0)
{
sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1} {2}", (sb.Length > 0) ? ", " : string.Empty,
timeSpan.Hours, (timeSpan.Hours > 1) ? "hours" : "hour");
if (approximate) return sb.ToString() + suffix;
}
if (timeSpan.Minutes > 0)
{
sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1} {2}", (sb.Length > 0) ? ", " : string.Empty,
timeSpan.Minutes, (timeSpan.Minutes > 1) ? "minutes" : "minute");
if (approximate) return sb.ToString() + suffix;
}
if (timeSpan.Seconds > 0)
{
sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1} {2}", (sb.Length > 0) ? ", " : string.Empty,
timeSpan.Seconds, (timeSpan.Seconds > 1) ? "seconds" : "second");
if (approximate) return sb.ToString() + suffix;
}
if (sb.Length == 0) return "right now";
sb.Append(suffix);
return sb.ToString();
}

There are also a package called Humanizr on Nuget, and it actually works really well, and is in the .NET Foundation.
DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(-30).Humanize() => "yesterday"
DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(-2).Humanize() => "2 hours ago"
DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(30).Humanize() => "tomorrow"
DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(2).Humanize() => "2 hours from now"
TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(1299630020).Humanize() => "2 weeks"
TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(1299630020).Humanize(3) => "2 weeks, 1 day, 1 hour"
Scott Hanselman has a writeup on it on his blog

I would recommend computing this on the client side too. Less work for the server.
The following is the version that I use (from Zach Leatherman)
/*
* Javascript Humane Dates
* Copyright (c) 2008 Dean Landolt (deanlandolt.com)
* Re-write by Zach Leatherman (zachleat.com)
*
* Adopted from the John Resig's pretty.js
* at http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-pretty-date
* and henrah's proposed modification
* at http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-pretty-date/#comment-297458
*
* Licensed under the MIT license.
*/
function humane_date(date_str){
var time_formats = [
[60, 'just now'],
[90, '1 minute'], // 60*1.5
[3600, 'minutes', 60], // 60*60, 60
[5400, '1 hour'], // 60*60*1.5
[86400, 'hours', 3600], // 60*60*24, 60*60
[129600, '1 day'], // 60*60*24*1.5
[604800, 'days', 86400], // 60*60*24*7, 60*60*24
[907200, '1 week'], // 60*60*24*7*1.5
[2628000, 'weeks', 604800], // 60*60*24*(365/12), 60*60*24*7
[3942000, '1 month'], // 60*60*24*(365/12)*1.5
[31536000, 'months', 2628000], // 60*60*24*365, 60*60*24*(365/12)
[47304000, '1 year'], // 60*60*24*365*1.5
[3153600000, 'years', 31536000], // 60*60*24*365*100, 60*60*24*365
[4730400000, '1 century'] // 60*60*24*365*100*1.5
];
var time = ('' + date_str).replace(/-/g,"/").replace(/[TZ]/g," "),
dt = new Date,
seconds = ((dt - new Date(time) + (dt.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000)) / 1000),
token = ' ago',
i = 0,
format;
if (seconds < 0) {
seconds = Math.abs(seconds);
token = '';
}
while (format = time_formats[i++]) {
if (seconds < format[0]) {
if (format.length == 2) {
return format[1] + (i > 1 ? token : ''); // Conditional so we don't return Just Now Ago
} else {
return Math.round(seconds / format[2]) + ' ' + format[1] + (i > 1 ? token : '');
}
}
}
// overflow for centuries
if(seconds > 4730400000)
return Math.round(seconds / 4730400000) + ' centuries' + token;
return date_str;
};
if(typeof jQuery != 'undefined') {
jQuery.fn.humane_dates = function(){
return this.each(function(){
var date = humane_date(this.title);
if(date && jQuery(this).text() != date) // don't modify the dom if we don't have to
jQuery(this).text(date);
});
};
}

#jeff
IMHO yours seems a little long. However it does seem a little more robust with support for "yesterday" and "years". But in my experience when this is used, the person is most likely to view the content in the first 30 days. It is only the really hardcore people that come after that. So, I usually elect to keep this short and simple.
This is the method I am currently using in one of my websites. This returns only a relative day, hour and time. And then the user has to slap on "ago" in the output.
public static string ToLongString(this TimeSpan time)
{
string output = String.Empty;
if (time.Days > 0)
output += time.Days + " days ";
if ((time.Days == 0 || time.Days == 1) && time.Hours > 0)
output += time.Hours + " hr ";
if (time.Days == 0 && time.Minutes > 0)
output += time.Minutes + " min ";
if (output.Length == 0)
output += time.Seconds + " sec";
return output.Trim();
}

A couple of years late to the party, but I had a requirement to do this for both past and future dates, so I combined Jeff's and Vincent's into this. It's a ternarytastic extravaganza! :)
public static class DateTimeHelper
{
private const int SECOND = 1;
private const int MINUTE = 60 * SECOND;
private const int HOUR = 60 * MINUTE;
private const int DAY = 24 * HOUR;
private const int MONTH = 30 * DAY;
/// <summary>
/// Returns a friendly version of the provided DateTime, relative to now. E.g.: "2 days ago", or "in 6 months".
/// </summary>
/// <param name="dateTime">The DateTime to compare to Now</param>
/// <returns>A friendly string</returns>
public static string GetFriendlyRelativeTime(DateTime dateTime)
{
if (DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks == dateTime.Ticks)
{
return "Right now!";
}
bool isFuture = (DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks < dateTime.Ticks);
var ts = DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks < dateTime.Ticks ? new TimeSpan(dateTime.Ticks - DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks) : new TimeSpan(DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks - dateTime.Ticks);
double delta = ts.TotalSeconds;
if (delta < 1 * MINUTE)
{
return isFuture ? "in " + (ts.Seconds == 1 ? "one second" : ts.Seconds + " seconds") : ts.Seconds == 1 ? "one second ago" : ts.Seconds + " seconds ago";
}
if (delta < 2 * MINUTE)
{
return isFuture ? "in a minute" : "a minute ago";
}
if (delta < 45 * MINUTE)
{
return isFuture ? "in " + ts.Minutes + " minutes" : ts.Minutes + " minutes ago";
}
if (delta < 90 * MINUTE)
{
return isFuture ? "in an hour" : "an hour ago";
}
if (delta < 24 * HOUR)
{
return isFuture ? "in " + ts.Hours + " hours" : ts.Hours + " hours ago";
}
if (delta < 48 * HOUR)
{
return isFuture ? "tomorrow" : "yesterday";
}
if (delta < 30 * DAY)
{
return isFuture ? "in " + ts.Days + " days" : ts.Days + " days ago";
}
if (delta < 12 * MONTH)
{
int months = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)ts.Days / 30));
return isFuture ? "in " + (months <= 1 ? "one month" : months + " months") : months <= 1 ? "one month ago" : months + " months ago";
}
else
{
int years = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)ts.Days / 365));
return isFuture ? "in " + (years <= 1 ? "one year" : years + " years") : years <= 1 ? "one year ago" : years + " years ago";
}
}
}

Given the world and her husband appear to be posting code samples, here is what I wrote a while ago, based on a couple of these answers.
I had a specific need for this code to be localisable. So I have two classes — Grammar, which specifies the localisable terms, and FuzzyDateExtensions, which holds a bunch of extension methods. I had no need to deal with future datetimes, so no attempt is made to handle them with this code.
I've left some of the XMLdoc in the source, but removed most (where they'd be obvious) for brevity's sake. I've also not included every class member here:
public class Grammar
{
/// <summary> Gets or sets the term for "just now". </summary>
public string JustNow { get; set; }
/// <summary> Gets or sets the term for "X minutes ago". </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// This is a <see cref="String.Format"/> pattern, where <c>{0}</c>
/// is the number of minutes.
/// </remarks>
public string MinutesAgo { get; set; }
public string OneHourAgo { get; set; }
public string HoursAgo { get; set; }
public string Yesterday { get; set; }
public string DaysAgo { get; set; }
public string LastMonth { get; set; }
public string MonthsAgo { get; set; }
public string LastYear { get; set; }
public string YearsAgo { get; set; }
/// <summary> Gets or sets the term for "ages ago". </summary>
public string AgesAgo { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Gets or sets the threshold beyond which the fuzzy date should be
/// considered "ages ago".
/// </summary>
public TimeSpan AgesAgoThreshold { get; set; }
/// <summary>
/// Initialises a new <see cref="Grammar"/> instance with the
/// specified properties.
/// </summary>
private void Initialise(string justNow, string minutesAgo,
string oneHourAgo, string hoursAgo, string yesterday, string daysAgo,
string lastMonth, string monthsAgo, string lastYear, string yearsAgo,
string agesAgo, TimeSpan agesAgoThreshold)
{ ... }
}
The FuzzyDateString class contains:
public static class FuzzyDateExtensions
{
public static string ToFuzzyDateString(this TimeSpan timespan)
{
return timespan.ToFuzzyDateString(new Grammar());
}
public static string ToFuzzyDateString(this TimeSpan timespan,
Grammar grammar)
{
return GetFuzzyDateString(timespan, grammar);
}
public static string ToFuzzyDateString(this DateTime datetime)
{
return (DateTime.Now - datetime).ToFuzzyDateString();
}
public static string ToFuzzyDateString(this DateTime datetime,
Grammar grammar)
{
return (DateTime.Now - datetime).ToFuzzyDateString(grammar);
}
private static string GetFuzzyDateString(TimeSpan timespan,
Grammar grammar)
{
timespan = timespan.Duration();
if (timespan >= grammar.AgesAgoThreshold)
{
return grammar.AgesAgo;
}
if (timespan < new TimeSpan(0, 2, 0)) // 2 minutes
{
return grammar.JustNow;
}
if (timespan < new TimeSpan(1, 0, 0)) // 1 hour
{
return String.Format(grammar.MinutesAgo, timespan.Minutes);
}
if (timespan < new TimeSpan(1, 55, 0)) // 1 hour 55 minutes
{
return grammar.OneHourAgo;
}
if (timespan < new TimeSpan(12, 0, 0) // 12 hours
&& (DateTime.Now - timespan).IsToday())
{
return String.Format(grammar.HoursAgo, timespan.RoundedHours());
}
if ((DateTime.Now.AddDays(1) - timespan).IsToday())
{
return grammar.Yesterday;
}
if (timespan < new TimeSpan(32, 0, 0, 0) // 32 days
&& (DateTime.Now - timespan).IsThisMonth())
{
return String.Format(grammar.DaysAgo, timespan.RoundedDays());
}
if ((DateTime.Now.AddMonths(1) - timespan).IsThisMonth())
{
return grammar.LastMonth;
}
if (timespan < new TimeSpan(365, 0, 0, 0, 0) // 365 days
&& (DateTime.Now - timespan).IsThisYear())
{
return String.Format(grammar.MonthsAgo, timespan.RoundedMonths());
}
if ((DateTime.Now - timespan).AddYears(1).IsThisYear())
{
return grammar.LastYear;
}
return String.Format(grammar.YearsAgo, timespan.RoundedYears());
}
}
One of the key things I wanted to achieve, as well as localisation, was that "today" would only mean "this calendar day", so the IsToday, IsThisMonth, IsThisYear methods look like this:
public static bool IsToday(this DateTime date)
{
return date.DayOfYear == DateTime.Now.DayOfYear && date.IsThisYear();
}
and the rounding methods are like this (I've included RoundedMonths, as that's a bit different):
public static int RoundedDays(this TimeSpan timespan)
{
return (timespan.Hours > 12) ? timespan.Days + 1 : timespan.Days;
}
public static int RoundedMonths(this TimeSpan timespan)
{
DateTime then = DateTime.Now - timespan;
// Number of partial months elapsed since 1 Jan, AD 1 (DateTime.MinValue)
int nowMonthYears = DateTime.Now.Year * 12 + DateTime.Now.Month;
int thenMonthYears = then.Year * 12 + then.Month;
return nowMonthYears - thenMonthYears;
}
I hope people find this useful and/or interesting :o)

using Fluent DateTime
var dateTime1 = 2.Hours().Ago();
var dateTime2 = 3.Days().Ago();
var dateTime3 = 1.Months().Ago();
var dateTime4 = 5.Hours().FromNow();
var dateTime5 = 2.Weeks().FromNow();
var dateTime6 = 40.Seconds().FromNow();

Is there an easy way to do this in Java? The java.util.Date class seems rather limited.
Here is my quick and dirty Java solution:
import java.util.Date;
import javax.management.timer.Timer;
String getRelativeDate(Date date) {
long delta = new Date().getTime() - date.getTime();
if (delta < 1L * Timer.ONE_MINUTE) {
return toSeconds(delta) == 1 ? "one second ago" : toSeconds(delta) + " seconds ago";
}
if (delta < 2L * Timer.ONE_MINUTE) {
return "a minute ago";
}
if (delta < 45L * Timer.ONE_MINUTE) {
return toMinutes(delta) + " minutes ago";
}
if (delta < 90L * Timer.ONE_MINUTE) {
return "an hour ago";
}
if (delta < 24L * Timer.ONE_HOUR) {
return toHours(delta) + " hours ago";
}
if (delta < 48L * Timer.ONE_HOUR) {
return "yesterday";
}
if (delta < 30L * Timer.ONE_DAY) {
return toDays(delta) + " days ago";
}
if (delta < 12L * 4L * Timer.ONE_WEEK) { // a month
long months = toMonths(delta);
return months <= 1 ? "one month ago" : months + " months ago";
}
else {
long years = toYears(delta);
return years <= 1 ? "one year ago" : years + " years ago";
}
}
private long toSeconds(long date) {
return date / 1000L;
}
private long toMinutes(long date) {
return toSeconds(date) / 60L;
}
private long toHours(long date) {
return toMinutes(date) / 60L;
}
private long toDays(long date) {
return toHours(date) / 24L;
}
private long toMonths(long date) {
return toDays(date) / 30L;
}
private long toYears(long date) {
return toMonths(date) / 365L;
}

iPhone Objective-C Version
+ (NSString *)timeAgoString:(NSDate *)date {
int delta = -(int)[date timeIntervalSinceNow];
if (delta < 60)
{
return delta == 1 ? #"one second ago" : [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i seconds ago", delta];
}
if (delta < 120)
{
return #"a minute ago";
}
if (delta < 2700)
{
return [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i minutes ago", delta/60];
}
if (delta < 5400)
{
return #"an hour ago";
}
if (delta < 24 * 3600)
{
return [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i hours ago", delta/3600];
}
if (delta < 48 * 3600)
{
return #"yesterday";
}
if (delta < 30 * 24 * 3600)
{
return [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i days ago", delta/(24*3600)];
}
if (delta < 12 * 30 * 24 * 3600)
{
int months = delta/(30*24*3600);
return months <= 1 ? #"one month ago" : [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i months ago", months];
}
else
{
int years = delta/(12*30*24*3600);
return years <= 1 ? #"one year ago" : [NSString stringWithFormat:#"%i years ago", years];
}
}

I thought I'd give this a shot using classes and polymorphism. I had a previous iteration which used sub-classing which ended up having way too much overhead. I've switched to a more flexible delegate / public property object model which is significantly better. My code is very slightly more accurate, I wish I could come up with a better way to generate "months ago" that didn't seem too over-engineered.
I think I'd still stick with Jeff's if-then cascade because it's less code and it's simpler (it's definitely easier to ensure it'll work as expected).
For the below code PrintRelativeTime.GetRelativeTimeMessage(TimeSpan ago) returns the relative time message (e.g. "yesterday").
public class RelativeTimeRange : IComparable
{
public TimeSpan UpperBound { get; set; }
public delegate string RelativeTimeTextDelegate(TimeSpan timeDelta);
public RelativeTimeTextDelegate MessageCreator { get; set; }
public int CompareTo(object obj)
{
if (!(obj is RelativeTimeRange))
{
return 1;
}
// note that this sorts in reverse order to the way you'd expect,
// this saves having to reverse a list later
return (obj as RelativeTimeRange).UpperBound.CompareTo(UpperBound);
}
}
public class PrintRelativeTime
{
private static List<RelativeTimeRange> timeRanges;
static PrintRelativeTime()
{
timeRanges = new List<RelativeTimeRange>{
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return "one second ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return delta.Seconds + " seconds ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(2),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return "one minute ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(60),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return delta.Minutes + " minutes ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromHours(2),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return "one hour ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromHours(24),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return delta.Hours + " hours ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromDays(2),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return "yesterday"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = DateTime.Now.Subtract(DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-1)),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return delta.Days + " days ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = DateTime.Now.Subtract(DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-2)),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return "one month ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = DateTime.Now.Subtract(DateTime.Now.AddYears(-1)),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return (int)Math.Floor(delta.TotalDays / 30) + " months ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = DateTime.Now.Subtract(DateTime.Now.AddYears(-2)),
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return "one year ago"; }
},
new RelativeTimeRange
{
UpperBound = TimeSpan.MaxValue,
MessageCreator = (delta) =>
{ return (int)Math.Floor(delta.TotalDays / 365.24D) + " years ago"; }
}
};
timeRanges.Sort();
}
public static string GetRelativeTimeMessage(TimeSpan ago)
{
RelativeTimeRange postRelativeDateRange = timeRanges[0];
foreach (var timeRange in timeRanges)
{
if (ago.CompareTo(timeRange.UpperBound) <= 0)
{
postRelativeDateRange = timeRange;
}
}
return postRelativeDateRange.MessageCreator(ago);
}
}

When you know the viewer's time zone, it might be clearer to use calendar days at the day scale. I'm not familiar with the .NET libraries so I don't know how you'd do that in C#, unfortunately.
On consumer sites, you could also be hand-wavier under a minute. "Less than a minute ago" or "just now" could be good enough.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
public static class RelativeDateHelper
{
private static Dictionary<double, Func<double, string>> sm_Dict = null;
private static Dictionary<double, Func<double, string>> DictionarySetup()
{
var dict = new Dictionary<double, Func<double, string>>();
dict.Add(0.75, (mins) => "less than a minute");
dict.Add(1.5, (mins) => "about a minute");
dict.Add(45, (mins) => string.Format("{0} minutes", Math.Round(mins)));
dict.Add(90, (mins) => "about an hour");
dict.Add(1440, (mins) => string.Format("about {0} hours", Math.Round(Math.Abs(mins / 60)))); // 60 * 24
dict.Add(2880, (mins) => "a day"); // 60 * 48
dict.Add(43200, (mins) => string.Format("{0} days", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(mins / 1440)))); // 60 * 24 * 30
dict.Add(86400, (mins) => "about a month"); // 60 * 24 * 60
dict.Add(525600, (mins) => string.Format("{0} months", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(mins / 43200)))); // 60 * 24 * 365
dict.Add(1051200, (mins) => "about a year"); // 60 * 24 * 365 * 2
dict.Add(double.MaxValue, (mins) => string.Format("{0} years", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(mins / 525600))));
return dict;
}
public static string ToRelativeDate(this DateTime input)
{
TimeSpan oSpan = DateTime.Now.Subtract(input);
double TotalMinutes = oSpan.TotalMinutes;
string Suffix = " ago";
if (TotalMinutes < 0.0)
{
TotalMinutes = Math.Abs(TotalMinutes);
Suffix = " from now";
}
if (null == sm_Dict)
sm_Dict = DictionarySetup();
return sm_Dict.First(n => TotalMinutes < n.Key).Value.Invoke(TotalMinutes) + Suffix;
}
}
The same as another answer to this question but as an extension method with a static dictionary.

In PHP, I do it this way:
<?php
function timesince($original) {
// array of time period chunks
$chunks = array(
array(60 * 60 * 24 * 365 , 'year'),
array(60 * 60 * 24 * 30 , 'month'),
array(60 * 60 * 24 * 7, 'week'),
array(60 * 60 * 24 , 'day'),
array(60 * 60 , 'hour'),
array(60 , 'minute'),
);
$today = time(); /* Current unix time */
$since = $today - $original;
if($since > 604800) {
$print = date("M jS", $original);
if($since > 31536000) {
$print .= ", " . date("Y", $original);
}
return $print;
}
// $j saves performing the count function each time around the loop
for ($i = 0, $j = count($chunks); $i < $j; $i++) {
$seconds = $chunks[$i][0];
$name = $chunks[$i][1];
// finding the biggest chunk (if the chunk fits, break)
if (($count = floor($since / $seconds)) != 0) {
break;
}
}
$print = ($count == 1) ? '1 '.$name : "$count {$name}s";
return $print . " ago";
} ?>

you can try this.I think it will work correctly.
long delta = new Date().getTime() - date.getTime();
const int SECOND = 1;
const int MINUTE = 60 * SECOND;
const int HOUR = 60 * MINUTE;
const int DAY = 24 * HOUR;
const int MONTH = 30 * DAY;
if (delta < 0L)
{
return "not yet";
}
if (delta < 1L * MINUTE)
{
return ts.Seconds == 1 ? "one second ago" : ts.Seconds + " seconds ago";
}
if (delta < 2L * MINUTE)
{
return "a minute ago";
}
if (delta < 45L * MINUTE)
{
return ts.Minutes + " minutes ago";
}
if (delta < 90L * MINUTE)
{
return "an hour ago";
}
if (delta < 24L * HOUR)
{
return ts.Hours + " hours ago";
}
if (delta < 48L * HOUR)
{
return "yesterday";
}
if (delta < 30L * DAY)
{
return ts.Days + " days ago";
}
if (delta < 12L * 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";
}

#Jeff
var ts = new TimeSpan(DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks - dt.Ticks);
Doing a subtraction on DateTime returns a TimeSpan anyway.
So you can just do
(DateTime.UtcNow - dt).TotalSeconds
I'm also surprised to see the constants multiplied-out by hand and then comments added with the multiplications in. Was that some misguided optimisation?

You can use TimeAgo extension as below:
public static string TimeAgo(this DateTime dateTime)
{
string result = string.Empty;
var timeSpan = DateTime.Now.Subtract(dateTime);
if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60))
{
result = string.Format("{0} seconds ago", timeSpan.Seconds);
}
else if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromMinutes(60))
{
result = timeSpan.Minutes > 1 ?
String.Format("about {0} minutes ago", timeSpan.Minutes) :
"about a minute ago";
}
else if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromHours(24))
{
result = timeSpan.Hours > 1 ?
String.Format("about {0} hours ago", timeSpan.Hours) :
"about an hour ago";
}
else if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromDays(30))
{
result = timeSpan.Days > 1 ?
String.Format("about {0} days ago", timeSpan.Days) :
"yesterday";
}
else if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromDays(365))
{
result = timeSpan.Days > 30 ?
String.Format("about {0} months ago", timeSpan.Days / 30) :
"about a month ago";
}
else
{
result = timeSpan.Days > 365 ?
String.Format("about {0} years ago", timeSpan.Days / 365) :
"about a year ago";
}
return result;
}
Or use jQuery plugin with Razor extension from Timeago.

You can reduce the server-side load by performing this logic client-side. View source on some Digg pages for reference. They have the server emit an epoch time value that gets processed by Javascript. This way you don't need to manage the end user's time zone. The new server-side code would be something like:
public string GetRelativeTime(DateTime timeStamp)
{
return string.Format("<script>printdate({0});</script>", timeStamp.ToFileTimeUtc());
}
You could even add a NOSCRIPT block there and just perform a ToString().

Here's the algorithm stackoverflow uses but rewritten more concisely in perlish pseudocode with a bug fix (no "one hours ago"). The function takes a (positive) number of seconds ago and returns a human-friendly string like "3 hours ago" or "yesterday".
agoify($delta)
local($y, $mo, $d, $h, $m, $s);
$s = floor($delta);
if($s<=1) return "a second ago";
if($s<60) return "$s seconds ago";
$m = floor($s/60);
if($m==1) return "a minute ago";
if($m<45) return "$m minutes ago";
$h = floor($m/60);
if($h==1) return "an hour ago";
if($h<24) return "$h hours ago";
$d = floor($h/24);
if($d<2) return "yesterday";
if($d<30) return "$d days ago";
$mo = floor($d/30);
if($mo<=1) return "a month ago";
$y = floor($mo/12);
if($y<1) return "$mo months ago";
if($y==1) return "a year ago";
return "$y years ago";

I got this answer from one of Bill Gates' blogs. I need to find it on my browser history and I'll give you the link.
The Javascript code to do the same thing (as requested):
function posted(t) {
var now = new Date();
var diff = parseInt((now.getTime() - Date.parse(t)) / 1000);
if (diff < 60) { return 'less than a minute ago'; }
else if (diff < 120) { return 'about a minute ago'; }
else if (diff < (2700)) { return (parseInt(diff / 60)).toString() + ' minutes ago'; }
else if (diff < (5400)) { return 'about an hour ago'; }
else if (diff < (86400)) { return 'about ' + (parseInt(diff / 3600)).toString() + ' hours ago'; }
else if (diff < (172800)) { return '1 day ago'; }
else {return (parseInt(diff / 86400)).toString() + ' days ago'; }
}
Basically, you work in terms of seconds.

Java for client-side gwt usage:
import java.util.Date;
public class RelativeDateFormat {
private static final long ONE_MINUTE = 60000L;
private static final long ONE_HOUR = 3600000L;
private static final long ONE_DAY = 86400000L;
private static final long ONE_WEEK = 604800000L;
public static String format(Date date) {
long delta = new Date().getTime() - date.getTime();
if (delta < 1L * ONE_MINUTE) {
return toSeconds(delta) == 1 ? "one second ago" : toSeconds(delta)
+ " seconds ago";
}
if (delta < 2L * ONE_MINUTE) {
return "one minute ago";
}
if (delta < 45L * ONE_MINUTE) {
return toMinutes(delta) + " minutes ago";
}
if (delta < 90L * ONE_MINUTE) {
return "one hour ago";
}
if (delta < 24L * ONE_HOUR) {
return toHours(delta) + " hours ago";
}
if (delta < 48L * ONE_HOUR) {
return "yesterday";
}
if (delta < 30L * ONE_DAY) {
return toDays(delta) + " days ago";
}
if (delta < 12L * 4L * ONE_WEEK) {
long months = toMonths(delta);
return months <= 1 ? "one month ago" : months + " months ago";
} else {
long years = toYears(delta);
return years <= 1 ? "one year ago" : years + " years ago";
}
}
private static long toSeconds(long date) {
return date / 1000L;
}
private static long toMinutes(long date) {
return toSeconds(date) / 60L;
}
private static long toHours(long date) {
return toMinutes(date) / 60L;
}
private static long toDays(long date) {
return toHours(date) / 24L;
}
private static long toMonths(long date) {
return toDays(date) / 30L;
}
private static long toYears(long date) {
return toMonths(date) / 365L;
}
}

I think there is already a number of answers related to this post, but one can use this which is easy to use just like plugin and also easily readable for programmers.
Send your specific date, and get its value in string form:
public string RelativeDateTimeCount(DateTime inputDateTime)
{
string outputDateTime = string.Empty;
TimeSpan ts = DateTime.Now - inputDateTime;
if (ts.Days > 7)
{ outputDateTime = inputDateTime.ToString("MMMM d, yyyy"); }
else if (ts.Days > 0)
{
outputDateTime = ts.Days == 1 ? ("about 1 Day ago") : ("about " + ts.Days.ToString() + " Days ago");
}
else if (ts.Hours > 0)
{
outputDateTime = ts.Hours == 1 ? ("an hour ago") : (ts.Hours.ToString() + " hours ago");
}
else if (ts.Minutes > 0)
{
outputDateTime = ts.Minutes == 1 ? ("1 minute ago") : (ts.Minutes.ToString() + " minutes ago");
}
else outputDateTime = "few seconds ago";
return outputDateTime;
}

var ts = new TimeSpan(DateTime.Now.Ticks - dt.Ticks);

If you want to have an output like "2 days, 4 hours and 12 minutes ago", you need a timespan:
TimeSpan timeDiff = DateTime.Now-CreatedDate;
Then you can access the values you like:
timeDiff.Days
timeDiff.Hours
etc...

I would provide some handy extensions methods for this and make the code more readable. First, couple of extension methods for Int32.
public static class TimeSpanExtensions {
public static TimeSpan Days(this int value) {
return new TimeSpan(value, 0, 0, 0);
}
public static TimeSpan Hours(this int value) {
return new TimeSpan(0, value, 0, 0);
}
public static TimeSpan Minutes(this int value) {
return new TimeSpan(0, 0, value, 0);
}
public static TimeSpan Seconds(this int value) {
return new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, value);
}
public static TimeSpan Milliseconds(this int value) {
return new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, 0, value);
}
public static DateTime Ago(this TimeSpan value) {
return DateTime.Now - value;
}
}
Then, one for DateTime.
public static class DateTimeExtensions {
public static DateTime Ago(this DateTime dateTime, TimeSpan delta) {
return dateTime - delta;
}
}
Now, you can do something like below:
var date = DateTime.Now;
date.Ago(2.Days()); // 2 days ago
date.Ago(7.Hours()); // 7 hours ago
date.Ago(567.Milliseconds()); // 567 milliseconds ago

How to implement Since method

I was looking for a method that display dates like in stackoverflow
something like :
1 hour ago
2 minutes ago
Just now
Etc...

Here a method to do so :
static string GetPrettyDate(DateTime d)
{
// 1.
// Get time span elapsed since the date.
TimeSpan s = DateTime.Now.Subtract(d);
// 2.
// Get total number of days elapsed.
int dayDiff = (int)s.TotalDays;
// 3.
// Get total number of seconds elapsed.
int secDiff = (int)s.TotalSeconds;
// 4.
// Don't allow out of range values.
if (dayDiff < 0 || dayDiff >= 31)
{
return null;
}
// 5.
// Handle same-day times.
if (dayDiff == 0)
{
// A.
// Less than one minute ago.
if (secDiff < 60)
{
return "just now";
}
// B.
// Less than 2 minutes ago.
if (secDiff < 120)
{
return "1 minute ago";
}
// C.
// Less than one hour ago.
if (secDiff < 3600)
{
return string.Format("{0} minutes ago",
Math.Floor((double)secDiff / 60));
}
// D.
// Less than 2 hours ago.
if (secDiff < 7200)
{
return "1 hour ago";
}
// E.
// Less than one day ago.
if (secDiff < 86400)
{
return string.Format("{0} hours ago",
Math.Floor((double)secDiff / 3600));
}
}
// 6.
// Handle previous days.
if (dayDiff == 1)
{
return "yesterday";
}
if (dayDiff < 7)
{
return string.Format("{0} days ago",
dayDiff);
}
if (dayDiff < 31)
{
return string.Format("{0} weeks ago",
Math.Ceiling((double)dayDiff / 7));
}
return null;
}
Source : http://www.dotnetperls.com/pretty-date

How I can convert Date to String formate.? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Closed 11 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
How do I calculate relative time?
I want to convert Date Value to string formate just like YouTube Videos Uploaded Time or Date for Eg. 2 Years Ago or 1 month ago or 8 houre ago like this just assume I have simple Date as an Output.
Thank you..!!

DateTime now = DateTime.Now;
DateTime older = //orignal date time;
TimeSpan difference = now.Subtract(older);
Once you get the time span you can calculate years, month, days etc using properties time span class exposes

I have written this function some years ago, looks like that's what you are after.
public static string GetTimeElpased(int secondsElpased, int minutesElpased, int hoursElpased,
int daysElpased, int monthsElpased, int yearsElpased)
{
if (secondsElpased < 30)
return "few seconds ago";
if (minutesElpased < 1)
return secondsElpased + " seconds ago";
if (minutesElpased < 5)
return "few minutes ago";
if (hoursElpased < 1)
return minutesElpased + " minutes ago";
if (hoursElpased < 5)
return "few hours ago";
if (daysElpased < 1)
return hoursElpased + " hours ago";
if (daysElpased == 1)
return "yesterday";
if (monthsElpased < 1)
return daysElpased + " days ago";
if (monthsElpased == 1)
return "month ago";
if (yearsElpased < 1)
return monthsElpased + " months ago";
string halfYear = (monthsElpased >= 6) ? " and half" : "";
if (yearsElpased == 1)
return "year" + halfYear + " ago";
return yearsElpased + " years ago";
}
For more complete/detailed functions see the other question. ( Calculate relative time in C# )

I think you're looking for something like timeago algorithim.
You can use something like this:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine(GetDifferenceDate(new DateTime(2011, 11, 25, 10, 30, 2),
new DateTime(2012, 1, 2, 6, 3, 5)));
}
static string GetDifferenceDate(DateTime date1, DateTime date2)
{
if (DateTime.Compare(date1, date2) >= 0)
{
TimeSpan ts = date1.Subtract(date2);
return string.Format("{0} days, {1} hours, {2} minutes, {3} seconds",
ts.Days, ts.Hours, ts.Minutes, ts.Seconds);
}
else
return "Not valid";
}
There is a similar questions on Stackoverflow, you must see:
Calculate relative time in C#
For more details see:
http://www.daniweb.com/software-development/csharp/threads/127213
Hope this helps.

You need to subtract the date from the current date. This will give you a TimeSpan value which represents a difference between two dates. You have to write the logic that turns this TimeSpan into readable text on your own:
TimeSpan d = DateTime.Now - someDate;
if (d.TotalSeconds < 59)
{
return d.TotalSeconds + " second(s) ago";
}
else if (d.TotalMinutes < 59)
{
return d.TotalMinutes + " minute(s) ago";
}
else if (d.TotalHours < 23)
{
return d.TotalHours + " hour(s) ago";
}
// days, weeks, months and years. It's up to you.

Start here; http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.datetime.aspx
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/search/en-us?query=TimeSpan&x=0&y=0
I believe what you're trying to do is use TimeSpan to determine the difference between now and the date something was posted. You're going to have to do some work with the results, but you can calculate how many hours/minutes/days/years there are different.

I feel like I'm solving your homework but here: the following is an example for an extension method that takes a DateTime object, compares it with the DateTime.Now and returns appropriate description of how long ago was the date.
public static class Ext
{
public static string HowMuchAgo(this DateTime dt)
{
var difference = (DateTime.Now - dt);
if (difference < TimeSpan.FromSeconds(.5))
{
return "Just now!";
}
else if (difference < TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1))
{
return difference.Seconds + " seconds ago.";
}
else if (difference < TimeSpan.FromHours(1))
{
return difference.Minutes + " minutes and " + difference.Seconds + " seconds ago.";
}
else if (difference < TimeSpan.FromDays(1))
{
return difference.Hours + " hours and " + difference.Minutes + " minutes and " + difference.Seconds + " seconds ago.";
}
else if (difference > TimeSpan.FromDays(1) && difference < TimeSpan.FromDays(2))
{
return "Yesterday at " + dt.ToShortTimeString();
}
else
{
return "On " + dt.ToString();
}
}
}
If you call DateTime.Now.HowMuchAgo() you'll get "Just now!". Of course you can modify this to add more if statements to get more granularity in the descriptions or modify what is stated in the descriptions.

C#/.NET Future Relative Timestamps?

I'm looking for some way to make a relative text timestamp but using future instead of past (not "2 days ago" but "in 2 days").
I'm making a personal task manager for my personal usages and I'd like it to tell me "this task is due in 2 days". But I can't seem to find nothing to convert a DateTime to that kind of timestamp.

This doesn't work for you?...
DateTime myTask = DateTime.Now.AddDays(2.0);
Update
As Reed pointed out in the comment box below, the OP might also be looking for a way to tell the time until the task is due or the time the task has been past due. I think something like this will work (note that I have not compiled this code, but it should give you a good idea):
public string PrintTaskDueTime(DateTime taskTime, DateTime currTime)
{
string result = string.Empty;
TimeSpan timeDiff = TimeSpan.Zero;
if(taskTime > currTime)
{
timeDiff = taskTime-currTime;
result = String.Format("Your task is due in {0} days and {1} hours.", timeDiff.TotalDays, timeDiff.Hours);
}
else if(taskTime == currTime)
{
result = "Your task is due now!";
}
else
{
timeDiff = currTime-taskTime;
result = String.Format("Your task is {0} days and {1} hours past due!", timeDiff.TotalDays, timeDiff.Hours);
}
return result;
}
So just call it by specifying the task time and the current time: PrintTimeDiff(taskTime, DateTime.Now);
I hope that helps.

If you have the date that it's due in a DateTime, then you can use a TimeSpan to get the time until due. For example:
TimeSpan dueDuration = dueDate - DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine("Due in {0} days and {1} hours.", dueDuration.TotalDays, dueDurations.Hours);

The DateTime type is used to represent specific points in time. For example, DateTime.Now.
The TimeSpan is used to represent specific durations of time. For example, TimeSpan.FromDays(2).
There are operator overloads that allow them to interact nicely with one another, For example,
DateTime dueDate = DateTime.Now + TimeSpan.FromDays(2);

A future relative timestamp is just like a past, but with the sign different.
string RelativeTime(DateTime when)
{
TimeSpan diff = when - DateTime.Now;
var minutes = (int) diff.TotalMinutes;
if (minutes == 1)
return "A minute from now";
if (minute == 2)
return "In a couple minutes";
if (minutes < 10)
return "In not 10 minutes";
if (minutes < 40)
return "In about half an hour";
/* etc */
}
The / * etc * / part is tedious and requires creativity, but that's up to you.

Based on all the replies I finally made one myself which meets all my requierements:
public static string RemainingTimeBeforeDateTime(DateTime dateTime, int level = 1)
{
int howDeep = 0;
string result = "";
TimeSpan dueDuration = dateTime - DateTime.Now;
double days = dueDuration.Days;
double hours = dueDuration.Hours;
double minutes = dueDuration.Minutes;
if (days > 0)
{
howDeep++;
result = days + "d ";
}
if (((howDeep != level) && (days != 0)) || ((days == 0) && (hours > 0)))
{
howDeep++;
result = result + hours + "h ";
}
if (((howDeep != level) && (hours != 0)) || ((hours == 0) && (minutes > 0)))
{
result = result + minutes + "m ";
}
return result;
}

Here's something I put together based on James' answer. Supports past, present, and future :)
Note: It can probably be shortened a bit more.
public static string RelativeTime(DateTime Date, string NowText = "Now")
{
const int SECOND = 1;
const int MINUTE = 60 * SECOND;
const int HOUR = 60 * MINUTE;
const int DAY = 24 * HOUR;
const int MONTH = 30 * DAY;
TimeSpan TimeSpan;
double delta = 0d;
//It's in the future
if (Date > DateTime.UtcNow)
{
TimeSpan = new TimeSpan(Date.Ticks - DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks);
delta = Math.Abs(TimeSpan.TotalSeconds);
if (delta < 1 * MINUTE)
{
if (TimeSpan.Seconds == 0)
return NowText;
else
return TimeSpan.Seconds == 1 ? "A second from now" : TimeSpan.Seconds + " seconds from now";
}
if (delta < 2 * MINUTE)
return "A minute from now";
if (delta < 45 * MINUTE)
return TimeSpan.Minutes + " minutes from now";
if (delta < 90 * MINUTE)
return "An hour from now";
if (delta < 24 * HOUR)
return TimeSpan.Hours + " hours from now";
if (delta < 48 * HOUR)
return "Tomorrow";
if (delta < 30 * DAY)
return TimeSpan.Days + " days from now";
if (delta < 12 * MONTH)
{
int months = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)TimeSpan.Days / 30));
return months <= 1 ? "A month from now" : months + " months from now";
}
else
{
int years = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)TimeSpan.Days / 365));
return years <= 1 ? "A year from now" : years + " years from now";
}
}
//It's in the past
else if (Date < DateTime.UtcNow)
{
TimeSpan = new TimeSpan(DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks - Date.Ticks);
delta = Math.Abs(TimeSpan.TotalSeconds);
if (delta < 1 * MINUTE)
{
if (TimeSpan.Seconds == 0)
return NowText;
else
return TimeSpan.Seconds == 1 ? "A second ago" : TimeSpan.Seconds + " seconds ago";
}
if (delta < 2 * MINUTE)
return "A minute ago";
if (delta < 45 * MINUTE)
return TimeSpan.Minutes + " minutes ago";
if (delta < 90 * MINUTE)
return "An hour ago";
if (delta < 24 * HOUR)
return TimeSpan.Hours + " hours ago";
if (delta < 48 * HOUR)
return "Yesterday";
if (delta < 30 * DAY)
return TimeSpan.Days + " days ago";
if (delta < 12 * MONTH)
{
int months = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)TimeSpan.Days / 30));
return months <= 1 ? "A month ago" : months + " months ago";
}
else
{
int years = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Floor((double)TimeSpan.Days / 365));
return years <= 1 ? "A year ago" : years + " years ago";
}
}
//It's now
else
return NowText;
}

Need help with modifying a method to display date in informal way

The following method retuns null if the date is like few months back or year old. If I want to display date as "2 month(s) ago" or like "1 year(s) ago". How should I modify the following method?
// 1.
// Get time span elapsed since the date.
TimeSpan s = DateTime.Now.Subtract(d);
// 2.
// Get total number of days elapsed.
int dayDiff = (int)s.TotalDays;
// 3.
// Get total number of seconds elapsed.
int secDiff = (int)s.TotalSeconds;
// 4.
// Don't allow out of range values.
if (dayDiff < 0 || dayDiff >= 31)
{
return null;
}
// 5.
// Handle same-day times.
if (dayDiff == 0)
{
// A.
// Less than one minute ago.
if (secDiff < 60)
{
return "just now";
}
// B.
// Less than 2 minutes ago.
if (secDiff < 120)
{
return "1 minute ago";
}
// C.
// Less than one hour ago.
if (secDiff < 3600)
{
return string.Format("{0} minutes ago",
Math.Floor((double)secDiff / 60));
}
// D.
// Less than 2 hours ago.
if (secDiff < 7200)
{
return "1 hour ago";
}
// E.
// Less than one day ago.
if (secDiff < 86400)
{
return string.Format("{0} hours ago",
Math.Floor((double)secDiff / 3600));
}
}
// 6.
// Handle previous days.
if (dayDiff == 1)
{
return "yesterday";
}
if (dayDiff < 7)
{
return string.Format("{0} days ago",
dayDiff);
}
if (dayDiff < 31)
{
return string.Format("{0} weeks ago",
Math.Ceiling((double)dayDiff / 7));
}
return null;
}

After the if block: if (dayDiff < 31) { ... } insert the following code:
if (dayDiff < 365)
{
return string.Format("{0} month(s) ago", Math.Ceiling((double)dayDiff / 31));
}
else
{
return string.Format("{0} year(s) ago", Math.Ceiling((double)dayDiff / 365));
}

you can directly compare TimeSpans like:
TimeSpan s = DateTime.Now.Subtract(d);
if (s < TimeSpan.FromDays(1))
{
// ...
}
else if (s < TimeSpan.FromMonth(1))
{
// ...
}
// ...
just combine this the way you want exactly (sorry but that I cannot really parse from your question)
I think you might like:
TimeSpan s = DateTime.Now.Subtract(d);
if (s < TimeSpan.FromDays(1))
{
return string.Format("{0:0} hour(s) ago", s.TotalHours);
}
else if (s < TimeSpan.FromDays(7))
{
return string.Format("{0:0} day(s) ago", s.TotalDays);
}
// ...