The code was originally published on a blog post “Python Pretty Date function” (http://evaisse.com/post/93417709/python-pretty-date-function)
It is reproduced here as the blog account has been suspended and the page is no longer available.
def pretty_date(time=False):
"""
Get a datetime object or a int() Epoch timestamp and return a
pretty string like 'an hour ago', 'Yesterday', '3 months ago',
'just now', etc
"""
from datetime import datetime
now = datetime.now()
if type(time) is int:
diff = now - datetime.fromtimestamp(time)
elif isinstance(time, datetime):
diff = now - time
elif not time:
diff = 0
second_diff = diff.seconds
day_diff = diff.days
if day_diff < 0:
return ''
if day_diff == 0:
if second_diff < 10:
return "just now"
if second_diff < 60:
return str(second_diff) + " seconds ago"
if second_diff < 120:
return "a minute ago"
if second_diff < 3600:
return str(second_diff // 60) + " minutes ago"
if second_diff < 7200:
return "an hour ago"
if second_diff < 86400:
return str(second_diff // 3600) + " hours ago"
if day_diff == 1:
return "Yesterday"
if day_diff < 7:
return str(day_diff) + " days ago"
if day_diff < 31:
return str(day_diff // 7) + " weeks ago"
if day_diff < 365:
return str(day_diff // 30) + " months ago"
return str(day_diff // 365) + " years ago"