Introduction to tutorial on Convert Date to time ago in swift 3
I in this tutorial I am going to share a short written extension of Date class that will convert given date and time with respect to current date time into seconds ago, minutes ago, days ago, and so on. If we are creating a feed based app or app showing listing of posts, then we have requirement to show time elapsed from the time of feed/post posting to the current time of the device.
Extension for Date that convert given date to time ago
Below is the code for the extension
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| extension Date { | |
| func getElapsedInterval() -> String { | |
| let interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute, .second], from: self, to: Date()) | |
| if let year = interval.year, year > 0 { | |
| return year == 1 ? "\(year)" + " " + "year" : | |
| "\(year)" + " " + "years" | |
| } else if let month = interval.month, month > 0 { | |
| return month == 1 ? "\(month)" + " " + "month" : | |
| "\(month)" + " " + "months" | |
| } else if let day = interval.day, day > 0 { | |
| return day == 1 ? "\(day)" + " " + "day" : | |
| "\(day)" + " " + "days" | |
| } else if let hour = interval.hour, hour > 0 { | |
| return hour == 1 ? "\(hour)" + " " + "hour" : | |
| "\(hour)" + " " + "hours" | |
| } else if let minute = interval.minute, minute > 0 { | |
| return minute == 1 ? "\(minute)" + " " + "minute" : | |
| "\(minute)" + " " + "minutes" | |
| } else if let second = interval.second, second > 0 { | |
| return second == 1 ? "\(second)" + " " + "second" : | |
| "\(second)" + " " + "seconds" | |
| } else { | |
| return "a moment ago" | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } |
How to use the Date extension in your code
Below are the steps that shows how to use the date extension in your original source code Step 1: Open your ViewController.swift and add extension code at the bottom of the file. Code is shown below
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| // | |
| // ViewController.swift | |
| // Date time ago | |
| // | |
| // Created by Aman Aggarwal on 3/24/17. | |
| // Copyright © 2017 iostutorialjunction.com. All rights reserved. | |
| // | |
| import UIKit | |
| class ViewController: UIViewController { | |
| override func viewDidLoad() { | |
| super.viewDidLoad() | |
| // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib. | |
| } | |
| override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() { | |
| super.didReceiveMemoryWarning() | |
| // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated. | |
| } | |
| } | |
| extension Date { | |
| func getElapsedInterval() -> String { | |
| let interval = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute, .second], from: self, to: Date()) | |
| if let year = interval.year, year > 0 { | |
| return year == 1 ? "\(year)" + " " + "year" : | |
| "\(year)" + " " + "years" | |
| } else if let month = interval.month, month > 0 { | |
| return month == 1 ? "\(month)" + " " + "month" : | |
| "\(month)" + " " + "months" | |
| } else if let day = interval.day, day > 0 { | |
| return day == 1 ? "\(day)" + " " + "day" : | |
| "\(day)" + " " + "days" | |
| } else if let hour = interval.hour, hour > 0 { | |
| return hour == 1 ? "\(hour)" + " " + "hour" : | |
| "\(hour)" + " " + "hours" | |
| } else if let minute = interval.minute, minute > 0 { | |
| return minute == 1 ? "\(minute)" + " " + "minute" : | |
| "\(minute)" + " " + "minutes" | |
| } else if let second = interval.second, second > 0 { | |
| return second == 1 ? "\(second)" + " " + "second" : | |
| "\(second)" + " " + "seconds" | |
| } else { | |
| return "a moment ago" | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } |
Step 2: In ViewController.swift file, viewDidLoad function, we will use it as shown below. We are passing -180 to create date 3 minutes behind current date.
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| // | |
| // ViewController.swift | |
| // Date time ago | |
| // | |
| // Created by Aman Aggarwal on 3/24/17. | |
| // Copyright © 2017 iostutorialjunction.com All rights reserved. | |
| // | |
| import UIKit | |
| class ViewController: UIViewController { | |
| override func viewDidLoad() { | |
| super.viewDidLoad() | |
| // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib. | |
| let date = Date(timeIntervalSinceNow: -180) | |
| print("Time ago :", date.getElapsedInterval()) | |
| } | |
| override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() { | |
| super.didReceiveMemoryWarning() | |
| // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated. | |
| } | |
| } |
Read more articles
How to create UITableView with sections
Add Pull to refresh to UITableView using custom UIRefreshControl in swift