fromNow

An extremely lightweight javascript utility for calculating readable time differences from now and past or future dates.

Usage

fromNow.js only has 1 required parameter, a date string.

Basic Structure

<div id="past-date">2012-02-12 14:02:47</div>
<div id="future-date">2014-12-21 14:02:47</div>

<script src="path/to/fromNow.js"></script>
<script>
var past = document.getElementById('past-date').innerHTML,
	future = document.getElementById('future-date').innerHTML;

fromNow(future); // "2 months, 16 hours, 17 minutes"
</script>

Default Usage

Yields all, absolute values

fromNow(past);  // "2 years, 8 months, 22 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes"
fromNow(future);  // "2 months, 16 hours, 17 minutes"

Limit Return Size

fromNow(past, 3); // "2 years, 8 months, 22 days"
fromNow(future, 2); // "2 months, 16 hours"
fromNow(future, 1); // "2 months"

Indicate Past Tense

fromNow(past, 3, true); // "2 years, 8 months, 22 days ago"

Include 'and' in Return

fromNow(past, 3, true, true); // "2 years, 8 months, and 22 days ago"
fromNow(past, 1, true, true); // "2 years ago"
fromNow(future, 2, false, true); // "2 months and 16 hours"

Parameters

date Type: string. Required. Date string to be calculated.

maxChunks Type: Integer. Optional. Default: all Limits the returned string to contain # of not-null segments. Gathers largest to smallest. Eg: 1 month, 0 hours, 57 minutes limited to 2 chunks returns 1 month, 57 minutes

useAgo Type: Boolean. Optional. Default: false If given date occured before current datetime, append 'ago' to returned string. Eg: 3 months, 16 minutes vs 3 months, 16 minutes ago

useAnd Type: Boolean. Optional. Default: false If true, will add 'and' between penultimate and ultimate chunks. Eg: 1 year, 4 hours, 16 minutes vs 1 year, 4 hours, and 16 minutes Eg: 2 days, 12 hours vs 2 days and 12 hours

MIT license

fromNow.js is released under the MIT license.