这是stackoverflow使用的算法，但使用了错误修复（没有“一小时前”）的perlish伪代码进行了更简洁的重写。该函数在秒前取一个（正数），并返回一个人类友好的字符串，如“3小时前”或“昨天”。

agoify($delta)
  local($y, $mo, $d, $h, $m, $s);
  $s = floor($delta);
  if($s<=1)            return "a second ago";
  if($s<60)            return "$s seconds ago";
  $m = floor($s/60);
  if($m==1)            return "a minute ago";
  if($m<45)            return "$m minutes ago";
  $h = floor($m/60);
  if($h==1)            return "an hour ago";
  if($h<24)            return "$h hours ago";
  $d = floor($h/24);
  if($d<2)             return "yesterday";
  if($d<30)            return "$d days ago";
  $mo = floor($d/30);
  if($mo<=1)           return "a month ago";
  $y = floor($mo/12);
  if($y<1)             return "$mo months ago";
  if($y==1)            return "a year ago";
  return "$y years ago";

在Java中有没有一种简单的方法可以做到这一点？java.util.Date类似乎相当有限。

下面是我的快速而肮脏的Java解决方案：

import java.util.Date;
import javax.management.timer.Timer;

String getRelativeDate(Date date) {     
  long delta = new Date().getTime() - date.getTime();
  if (delta < 1L * Timer.ONE_MINUTE) {
    return toSeconds(delta) == 1 ? "one second ago" : toSeconds(delta) + " seconds ago";
  }
  if (delta < 2L * Timer.ONE_MINUTE) {
    return "a minute ago";
  }
  if (delta < 45L * Timer.ONE_MINUTE) {
    return toMinutes(delta) + " minutes ago";
  }
  if (delta < 90L * Timer.ONE_MINUTE) {
    return "an hour ago";
  }
  if (delta < 24L * Timer.ONE_HOUR) {
    return toHours(delta) + " hours ago";
  }
  if (delta < 48L * Timer.ONE_HOUR) {
    return "yesterday";
  }
  if (delta < 30L * Timer.ONE_DAY) {
    return toDays(delta) + " days ago";
  }
  if (delta < 12L * 4L * Timer.ONE_WEEK) { // a month
    long months = toMonths(delta); 
    return months <= 1 ? "one month ago" : months + " months ago";
  }
  else {
    long years = toYears(delta);
    return years <= 1 ? "one year ago" : years + " years ago";
  }
}

private long toSeconds(long date) {
  return date / 1000L;
}

private long toMinutes(long date) {
  return toSeconds(date) / 60L;
}

private long toHours(long date) {
  return toMinutes(date) / 60L;
}

private long toDays(long date) {
  return toHours(date) / 24L;
}

private long toMonths(long date) {
  return toDays(date) / 30L;
}

private long toYears(long date) {
  return toMonths(date) / 365L;
}

public static string RelativeDate(DateTime theDate)
{
    Dictionary<long, string> thresholds = new Dictionary<long, string>();
    int minute = 60;
    int hour = 60 * minute;
    int day = 24 * hour;
    thresholds.Add(60, "{0} seconds ago");
    thresholds.Add(minute * 2, "a minute ago");
    thresholds.Add(45 * minute, "{0} minutes ago");
    thresholds.Add(120 * minute, "an hour ago");
    thresholds.Add(day, "{0} hours ago");
    thresholds.Add(day * 2, "yesterday");
    thresholds.Add(day * 30, "{0} days ago");
    thresholds.Add(day * 365, "{0} months ago");
    thresholds.Add(long.MaxValue, "{0} years ago");
    long since = (DateTime.Now.Ticks - theDate.Ticks) / 10000000;
    foreach (long threshold in thresholds.Keys) 
    {
        if (since < threshold) 
        {
            TimeSpan t = new TimeSpan((DateTime.Now.Ticks - theDate.Ticks));
            return string.Format(thresholds[threshold], (t.Days > 365 ? t.Days / 365 : (t.Days > 0 ? t.Days : (t.Hours > 0 ? t.Hours : (t.Minutes > 0 ? t.Minutes : (t.Seconds > 0 ? t.Seconds : 0))))).ToString());
        }
    }
    return "";
}

我更喜欢这个版本，因为它简洁，并且能够添加新的刻度点。这可以用Timespan的Latest（）扩展来封装，而不是长的1行，但为了发布的简洁，这可以。这修复了一小时前、一小时前的问题，提供了一个小时直到两小时过去

我的方法要简单得多。您可以根据需要调整返回字符串

    public static string TimeLeft(DateTime utcDate)
    {
        TimeSpan timeLeft = DateTime.UtcNow - utcDate;
        string timeLeftString = "";
        if (timeLeft.Days > 0)
        {
            timeLeftString += timeLeft.Days == 1 ? timeLeft.Days + " day" : timeLeft.Days + " days";
        }
        else if (timeLeft.Hours > 0)
        {
            timeLeftString += timeLeft.Hours == 1 ? timeLeft.Hours + " hour" : timeLeft.Hours + " hours";
        }
        else
        {
            timeLeftString += timeLeft.Minutes == 1 ? timeLeft.Minutes+" minute" : timeLeft.Minutes + " minutes";
        }
        return timeLeftString;
    }

Nuget上还有一个名为Humanizr的软件包，它实际上运行得很好，并且在.NET Foundation中。

DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(-30).Humanize() => "yesterday"
DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(-2).Humanize() => "2 hours ago"

DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(30).Humanize() => "tomorrow"
DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(2).Humanize() => "2 hours from now"

TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(1299630020).Humanize() => "2 weeks"
TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(1299630020).Humanize(3) => "2 weeks, 1 day, 1 hour"

Scott Hanselman在他的博客上写了一篇文章

您可以使用TimeAgo扩展，如下所示：

public static string TimeAgo(this DateTime dateTime)
{
    string result = string.Empty;
    var timeSpan = DateTime.Now.Subtract(dateTime);
 
    if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60))
    {
        result = string.Format("{0} seconds ago", timeSpan.Seconds);
    }
    else if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromMinutes(60))
    {
        result = timeSpan.Minutes > 1 ? 
            String.Format("about {0} minutes ago", timeSpan.Minutes) :
            "about a minute ago";
    }
    else if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromHours(24))
    {
        result = timeSpan.Hours > 1 ? 
            String.Format("about {0} hours ago", timeSpan.Hours) : 
            "about an hour ago";
    }
    else if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromDays(30))
    {
        result = timeSpan.Days > 1 ? 
            String.Format("about {0} days ago", timeSpan.Days) : 
            "yesterday";
    }
    else if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromDays(365))
    {
        result = timeSpan.Days > 30 ? 
            String.Format("about {0} months ago", timeSpan.Days / 30) : 
            "about a month ago";
    }
    else
    {
        result = timeSpan.Days > 365 ? 
            String.Format("about {0} years ago", timeSpan.Days / 365) : 
            "about a year ago";
    }
 
    return result;
}

或者使用带有Timeago的Razor扩展的jQuery插件。