@pfarr.tools/relative-date

Human-readable relative date descriptions in German.

Converts a pair of date strings (in DD.MM.YYYY format) into a natural German phrase: heute, gestern, vorgestern, am Montag, am Montag der letzten Woche, etc.

Installation

npm install @pfarr.tools/relative-date

Usage

ESM

import { relativeDate } from '@pfarr.tools/relative-date';

const today = '05.05.2026';

relativeDate('05.05.2026', today); // 'heute'
relativeDate('04.05.2026', today); // 'gestern'
relativeDate('03.05.2026', today); // 'vorgestern'
relativeDate('28.04.2026', today); // 'am Dienstag der letzten Woche'
relativeDate('21.04.2026', today); // 'am Dienstag vor 2 Wochen'

CommonJS

const { relativeDate } = require('@pfarr.tools/relative-date');

Default export

import relativeDate from '@pfarr.tools/relative-date';

API

relativeDate(date1, date2)

| Parameter | Type | Description | |-----------|------|-------------| | date1 | string | Subject date in DD.MM.YYYY format (the past date). | | date2 | string | Reference date in DD.MM.YYYY format (typically today). |

Returns string — German relative-date phrase, or '' for invalid/missing input.

Output phrases by day difference

| Days | Output | |------|--------| | 0 | heute | | 1 | gestern | | 2 | vorgestern | | 3–6 | am <Wochentag> | | 7 | am <Wochentag> der letzten Woche | | 8–12 | am <Wochentag> vor einer Woche | | ≥ 13 | am <Wochentag> vor N Wochen |

Day names are in German (Montag, Dienstag, …, Sonntag).

Date format

Both parameters must be strings in DD.MM.YYYY format (German locale convention). Invalid or empty strings return ''.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later — © Christoph Fischer [email protected]