The question is how to format a Dart DateTime as a string stating the time elapsed similar to the way you see times displayed on Stack Overflow.

Is there any better method than this

String timeAgo(DateTime d) { Duration diff = DateTime.now().difference(d); if (diff.inDays > 365) return "${(diff.inDays / 365).floor()} ${(diff.inDays / 365).floor() == 1 ? "year" : "years"} ago"; if (diff.inDays > 30) return "${(diff.inDays / 30).floor()} ${(diff.inDays / 30).floor() == 1 ? "month" : "months"} ago"; if (diff.inDays > 7) return "${(diff.inDays / 7).floor()} ${(diff.inDays / 7).floor() == 1 ? "week" : "weeks"} ago"; if (diff.inDays > 0) return "${diff.inDays} ${diff.inDays == 1 ? "day" : "days"} ago"; if (diff.inHours > 0) return "${diff.inHours} ${diff.inHours == 1 ? "hour" : "hours"} ago"; if (diff.inMinutes > 0) return "${diff.inMinutes} ${diff.inMinutes == 1 ? "minute" : "minutes"} ago"; return "just now";
}

Thank you and hope it helps others

1

5 Answers

I used timeago for the exact purpose and found it quite useful. It has multiple format and different languages support as well.

You can also try this package, Jiffy.

You can get relative time from now

// This returns time ago from now
Jiffy().fromNow(); // a few seconds ago
//You can also pass in a DateTime Object or a string or a list
Jiffy(DateTime.now()).fromNow; // a few seconds ago
//or
Jiffy(DateTime(2018, 10, 25)).fromNow(); // a year ago
Jiffy("2020-10-25").fromNow(); // in a year

Manipulating is also simple in Jiffy

var dateTime = Jiffy().add(hours: 3, months: 2);
dateTime.fromNow(); // in 2 months

You can also get relative time from a specified time apart from now

Jiffy([2022, 10, 25]).from([2022, 1, 25]); // in 10 months

I simplify Paresh's answer by using DateTime extension

create a new dart file called date_time_extension.dart and then write code like this

extension DateTimeExtension on DateTime { String timeAgo({bool numericDates = true}) { final date2 = DateTime.now(); final difference = date2.difference(this); if ((difference.inDays / 7).floor() >= 1) { return (numericDates) ? '1 week ago' : 'Last week'; } else if (difference.inDays >= 2) { return '${difference.inDays} days ago'; } else if (difference.inDays >= 1) { return (numericDates) ? '1 day ago' : 'Yesterday'; } else if (difference.inHours >= 2) { return '${difference.inHours} hours ago'; } else if (difference.inHours >= 1) { return (numericDates) ? '1 hour ago' : 'An hour ago'; } else if (difference.inMinutes >= 2) { return '${difference.inMinutes} minutes ago'; } else if (difference.inMinutes >= 1) { return (numericDates) ? '1 minute ago' : 'A minute ago'; } else if (difference.inSeconds >= 3) { return '${difference.inSeconds} seconds ago'; } else { return 'Just now'; } }
}

and then, use it like this

import 'package:utilities/extensions/date_time_extension.dart'; // <--- import the file you just create
product.createdAt.timeAgo(numericDates: false) // use it on your DateTime property

A variation on @Alex289's answer

extension DateHelpers on DateTime { String toTimeAgoLabel({bool isIntervalNumericVisible = true}) { final now = DateTime.now(); final durationSinceNow = now.difference(this); final inDays = durationSinceNow.inDays; if (inDays >= 1) { return (inDays / 7).floor() >= 1 ? isIntervalNumericVisible ? '1 week ago' : 'Last week' : inDays >= 2 ? '$inDays days ago' : isIntervalNumericVisible ? '1 day ago' : 'Yesterday'; } final inHours = durationSinceNow.inHours; if (inHours >= 1) { return inHours >= 2 ? '$inHours hours ago' : isIntervalNumericVisible ? '1 hour ago' : 'An hour ago'; } final inMinutes = durationSinceNow.inMinutes; if (inMinutes >= 2) { return inHours >= 2 ? '$inMinutes minutes ago' : isIntervalNumericVisible ? '1 minute ago' : 'A minute ago'; } final inSeconds = durationSinceNow.inSeconds; return inSeconds >= 3 ? '$inSeconds seconds ago' : 'Just now'; }
}

You can use this Method which will give you times ago.

String convertToAgo(String dateTime) { DateTime input = DateFormat('yyyy-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.SSSSSSZ').parse(dateTime, true); Duration diff = DateTime.now().difference(input); if (diff.inDays >= 1) { return '${diff.inDays} day${diff.inDays == 1 ? '' : 's'} ago'; } else if (diff.inHours >= 1) { return '${diff.inHours} hour${diff.inHours == 1 ? '' : 's'} ago'; } else if (diff.inMinutes >= 1) { return '${diff.inMinutes} minute${diff.inMinutes == 1 ? '' : 's'} ago'; } else if (diff.inSeconds >= 1) { return '${diff.inSeconds} second${diff.inSeconds == 1 ? '' : 's'} ago'; } else { return 'just now'; }
}

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