下面是我作为DateTime类的扩展方法添加的一个实现，它处理未来和过去的日期，并提供了一个近似选项，允许您指定要查找的详细程度（“3小时前”与“3小时、23分钟、12秒前”）：

using System.Text;

/// <summary>
/// Compares a supplied date to the current date and generates a friendly English 
/// comparison ("5 days ago", "5 days from now")
/// </summary>
/// <param name="date">The date to convert</param>
/// <param name="approximate">When off, calculate timespan down to the second.
/// When on, approximate to the largest round unit of time.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static string ToRelativeDateString(this DateTime value, bool approximate)
{
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

    string suffix = (value > DateTime.Now) ? " from now" : " ago";

    TimeSpan timeSpan = new TimeSpan(Math.Abs(DateTime.Now.Subtract(value).Ticks));

    if (timeSpan.Days > 0)
    {
        sb.AppendFormat("{0} {1}", timeSpan.Days,
          (timeSpan.Days > 1) ? "days" : "day");
        if (approximate) return sb.ToString() + suffix;
    }
    if (timeSpan.Hours > 0)
    {
        sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1} {2}", (sb.Length > 0) ? ", " : string.Empty,
          timeSpan.Hours, (timeSpan.Hours > 1) ? "hours" : "hour");
        if (approximate) return sb.ToString() + suffix;
    }
    if (timeSpan.Minutes > 0)
    {
        sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1} {2}", (sb.Length > 0) ? ", " : string.Empty, 
          timeSpan.Minutes, (timeSpan.Minutes > 1) ? "minutes" : "minute");
        if (approximate) return sb.ToString() + suffix;
    }
    if (timeSpan.Seconds > 0)
    {
        sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1} {2}", (sb.Length > 0) ? ", " : string.Empty, 
          timeSpan.Seconds, (timeSpan.Seconds > 1) ? "seconds" : "second");
        if (approximate) return sb.ToString() + suffix;
    }
    if (sb.Length == 0) return "right now";

    sb.Append(suffix);
    return sb.ToString();
}

public static string ToRelativeDate(DateTime input)
{
    TimeSpan oSpan = DateTime.Now.Subtract(input);
    double TotalMinutes = oSpan.TotalMinutes;
    string Suffix = " ago";

    if (TotalMinutes < 0.0)
    {
        TotalMinutes = Math.Abs(TotalMinutes);
        Suffix = " from now";
    }

    var aValue = new SortedList<double, Func<string>>();
    aValue.Add(0.75, () => "less than a minute");
    aValue.Add(1.5, () => "about a minute");
    aValue.Add(45, () => string.Format("{0} minutes", Math.Round(TotalMinutes)));
    aValue.Add(90, () => "about an hour");
    aValue.Add(1440, () => string.Format("about {0} hours", Math.Round(Math.Abs(oSpan.TotalHours)))); // 60 * 24
    aValue.Add(2880, () => "a day"); // 60 * 48
    aValue.Add(43200, () => string.Format("{0} days", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(oSpan.TotalDays)))); // 60 * 24 * 30
    aValue.Add(86400, () => "about a month"); // 60 * 24 * 60
    aValue.Add(525600, () => string.Format("{0} months", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(oSpan.TotalDays / 30)))); // 60 * 24 * 365 
    aValue.Add(1051200, () => "about a year"); // 60 * 24 * 365 * 2
    aValue.Add(double.MaxValue, () => string.Format("{0} years", Math.Floor(Math.Abs(oSpan.TotalDays / 365))));

    return aValue.First(n => TotalMinutes < n.Key).Value.Invoke() + Suffix;
}

http://refactormycode.com/codes/493-twitter-esque-relative-dates

C#6版本：

static readonly SortedList<double, Func<TimeSpan, string>> offsets = 
   new SortedList<double, Func<TimeSpan, string>>
{
    { 0.75, _ => "less than a minute"},
    { 1.5, _ => "about a minute"},
    { 45, x => $"{x.TotalMinutes:F0} minutes"},
    { 90, x => "about an hour"},
    { 1440, x => $"about {x.TotalHours:F0} hours"},
    { 2880, x => "a day"},
    { 43200, x => $"{x.TotalDays:F0} days"},
    { 86400, x => "about a month"},
    { 525600, x => $"{x.TotalDays / 30:F0} months"},
    { 1051200, x => "about a year"},
    { double.MaxValue, x => $"{x.TotalDays / 365:F0} years"}
};

public static string ToRelativeDate(this DateTime input)
{
    TimeSpan x = DateTime.Now - input;
    string Suffix = x.TotalMinutes > 0 ? " ago" : " from now";
    x = new TimeSpan(Math.Abs(x.Ticks));
    return offsets.First(n => x.TotalMinutes < n.Key).Value(x) + Suffix;
}

iPhone Objective-C版本

+ (NSString *)timeAgoString:(NSDate *)date {
    int delta = -(int)[date timeIntervalSinceNow];

    if (delta < 60)
    {
        return delta == 1 ? @"one second ago" : [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i seconds ago", delta];
    }
    if (delta < 120)
    {
        return @"a minute ago";
    }
    if (delta < 2700)
    {
        return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i minutes ago", delta/60];
    }
    if (delta < 5400)
    {
        return @"an hour ago";
    }
    if (delta < 24 * 3600)
    {
        return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i hours ago", delta/3600];
    }
    if (delta < 48 * 3600)
    {
        return @"yesterday";
    }
    if (delta < 30 * 24 * 3600)
    {
        return [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i days ago", delta/(24*3600)];
    }
    if (delta < 12 * 30 * 24 * 3600)
    {
        int months = delta/(30*24*3600);
        return months <= 1 ? @"one month ago" : [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i months ago", months];
    }
    else
    {
        int years = delta/(12*30*24*3600);
        return years <= 1 ? @"one year ago" : [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i years ago", years];
    }
}

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;
}

// Calculate total days in current year
int daysInYear;

for (var i = 1; i <= 12; i++)
    daysInYear += DateTime.DaysInMonth(DateTime.Now.Year, i);

// Past date
DateTime dateToCompare = DateTime.Now.Subtract(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(582));

// Calculate difference between current date and past date
double diff = (DateTime.Now - dateToCompare).TotalMilliseconds;

TimeSpan ts = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(diff);

var years = ts.TotalDays / daysInYear; // Years
var months = ts.TotalDays / (daysInYear / (double)12); // Months
var weeks = ts.TotalDays / 7; // Weeks
var days = ts.TotalDays; // Days
var hours = ts.TotalHours; // Hours
var minutes = ts.TotalMinutes; // Minutes
var seconds = ts.TotalSeconds; // Seconds

if (years >= 1)
    Console.WriteLine(Math.Round(years, 0) + " year(s) ago");
else if (months >= 1)
    Console.WriteLine(Math.Round(months, 0) + " month(s) ago");
else if (weeks >= 1)
    Console.WriteLine(Math.Round(weeks, 0) + " week(s) ago");
else if (days >= 1)
    Console.WriteLine(Math.Round(days, 0) + " days(s) ago");
else if (hours >= 1)
    Console.WriteLine(Math.Round(hours, 0) + " hour(s) ago");
else if (minutes >= 1)
    Console.WriteLine(Math.Round(minutes, 0) + " minute(s) ago");
else if (seconds >= 1)
    Console.WriteLine(Math.Round(seconds, 0) + " second(s) ago");

Console.ReadLine();

我想我应该用类和多态性来尝试一下。我以前的迭代使用了子类，结果开销太大。我已经切换到一个更灵活的委托/公共属性对象模型，这明显更好。我的代码稍微准确一点，我希望我能想出一种更好的方法来生成“几个月前”的代码，而这种方法看起来并没有过度设计。

我想我还是会坚持Jeff的if-then-cascade，因为它的代码更少，而且更简单（肯定更容易确保它按预期工作）。

对于以下代码，PrintRelativeTime.GetRelativeTime message（TimeSpan ago）返回相对时间消息（例如“昨天”）。

public class RelativeTimeRange : IComparable
{
    public TimeSpan UpperBound { get; set; }

    public delegate string RelativeTimeTextDelegate(TimeSpan timeDelta);

    public RelativeTimeTextDelegate MessageCreator { get; set; }

    public int CompareTo(object obj)
    {
        if (!(obj is RelativeTimeRange))
        {
            return 1;
        }
        // note that this sorts in reverse order to the way you'd expect, 
        // this saves having to reverse a list later
        return (obj as RelativeTimeRange).UpperBound.CompareTo(UpperBound);
    }
}

public class PrintRelativeTime
{
    private static List<RelativeTimeRange> timeRanges;

    static PrintRelativeTime()
    {
        timeRanges = new List<RelativeTimeRange>{
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return "one second ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return delta.Seconds + " seconds ago"; }

            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(2),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return "one minute ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(60),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return delta.Minutes + " minutes ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromHours(2),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return "one hour ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromHours(24),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return delta.Hours + " hours ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = TimeSpan.FromDays(2),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return "yesterday"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = DateTime.Now.Subtract(DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-1)),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return delta.Days + " days ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = DateTime.Now.Subtract(DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-2)),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return "one month ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = DateTime.Now.Subtract(DateTime.Now.AddYears(-1)),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return (int)Math.Floor(delta.TotalDays / 30) + " months ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = DateTime.Now.Subtract(DateTime.Now.AddYears(-2)),
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return "one year ago"; }
            }, 
            new RelativeTimeRange
            {
                UpperBound = TimeSpan.MaxValue,
                MessageCreator = (delta) => 
                { return (int)Math.Floor(delta.TotalDays / 365.24D) + " years ago"; }
            }
        };

        timeRanges.Sort();
    }

    public static string GetRelativeTimeMessage(TimeSpan ago)
    {
        RelativeTimeRange postRelativeDateRange = timeRanges[0];

        foreach (var timeRange in timeRanges)
        {
            if (ago.CompareTo(timeRange.UpperBound) <= 0)
            {
                postRelativeDateRange = timeRange;
            }
        }

        return postRelativeDateRange.MessageCreator(ago);
    }
}