PHP Timestamp Conversion to "X seconds ago", "X minutes ago", "X hours ago", "X days ago" Code Example

gitbox 2025-06-15

1. Introduction

In PHP development, we often need to handle timestamps. A timestamp represents the number of seconds that have passed since 00:00:00 on January 1st, 1970. Directly working with timestamps is not very intuitive, so we may need to convert them into a relative time format, such as "X seconds ago", "X minutes ago", "X hours ago", or "X days ago". This article will show you how to process timestamps in PHP and convert them into these formats.

2. Getting the Current Timestamp

Before we begin, we need to obtain the current timestamp. PHP provides the built-in function time() to get the current Unix timestamp, which is an integer value representing the number of seconds since January 1st, 1970.

<?php
$currentTimestamp = time();
?>

3. Converting Timestamp to Relative Time

3.1 Convert to "X minutes ago"

To convert a timestamp into the "X minutes ago" format, we can calculate the difference between the current timestamp and the given timestamp, divide by 60 to get the number of minutes, and return the result:

<?php
function convertToTimeAgo($timestamp) {
    $difference = time() - $timestamp;
    $minutes = floor($difference / 60);
    return $minutes . " minutes ago";
}

$timestamp = 1609459200;  // Example timestamp
echo convertToTimeAgo($timestamp);  // Output: X minutes ago
?>

3.2 Convert to "X hours ago"

Similarly, to convert to the "X hours ago" format, divide the difference by 3600 (the number of seconds in an hour) to get the number of hours:

<?php
function convertToTimeAgo($timestamp) {
    $difference = time() - $timestamp;
    $hours = floor($difference / 3600);
    return $hours . " hours ago";
}

$timestamp = 1609459200;
echo convertToTimeAgo($timestamp);  // Output: X hours ago
?>

3.3 Convert to "X days ago"

To convert to the "X days ago" format, divide the difference by 86400 (the number of seconds in a day) to get the number of days:

<?php
function convertToTimeAgo($timestamp) {
    $difference = time() - $timestamp;
    $days = floor($difference / 86400);
    return $days . " days ago";
}

$timestamp = 1609459200;
echo convertToTimeAgo($timestamp);  // Output: X days ago
?>

4. Conclusion

PHP provides powerful functions for handling time, making it easy to convert timestamps into relative time formats. This is very useful for displaying article publish times or social media post times. By calculating the difference between the current timestamp and the given timestamp, we can easily convert timestamps into minutes, hours, or days ago, and present time in a more user-friendly way.

In real-world applications, you can further enhance these functions by adding more time conversion logic, such as converting timestamps into local time based on the user’s timezone, providing a better user experience.

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