javascriptdatetimetime

Convert time interval given in seconds into more human readable form


I need a code snippet for converting amount of time given by number of seconds into some human readable form. The function should receive a number and output a string like this:

34 seconds 
12 minutes 
4 hours 
5 days 
4 months
1 year

No formatting required, hard-coded format will go.


Solution

  • With help of Royi we've got code that outputs time interval in a human readable form:

    function millisecondsToStr (milliseconds) {
        // TIP: to find current time in milliseconds, use:
        // var  current_time_milliseconds = new Date().getTime();
    
        function numberEnding (number) {
            return (number > 1) ? 's' : '';
        }
    
        var temp = Math.floor(milliseconds / 1000);
        var years = Math.floor(temp / 31536000);
        if (years) {
            return years + ' year' + numberEnding(years);
        }
        //TODO: Months! Maybe weeks? 
        var days = Math.floor((temp %= 31536000) / 86400);
        if (days) {
            return days + ' day' + numberEnding(days);
        }
        var hours = Math.floor((temp %= 86400) / 3600);
        if (hours) {
            return hours + ' hour' + numberEnding(hours);
        }
        var minutes = Math.floor((temp %= 3600) / 60);
        if (minutes) {
            return minutes + ' minute' + numberEnding(minutes);
        }
        var seconds = temp % 60;
        if (seconds) {
            return seconds + ' second' + numberEnding(seconds);
        }
        return 'less than a second'; //'just now' //or other string you like;
    }