How to format time since xxx e.g. “4 minutes ago” similar to Stack Exchange sites

Question

The question is how to format a JavaScript Date as a string stating the time elapsed similar to the way you see times displayed on Stack Overflow.

e.g.<

Answer 1

My solution..

(function(global){
            const SECOND   = 1;
            const MINUTE   = 60;
            const HOUR     = 3600;
            const DAY      = 86400;
            const MONTH    = 2629746;
            const YEAR     = 31556952;
            const DECADE   = 315569520;

            global.timeAgo = function(date){
                var now = new Date();
                var diff = Math.round(( now - date ) / 1000);

                var unit = '';
                var num = 0;
                var plural = false;

                switch(true){
                    case diff <= 0:
                        return 'just now';
                    break;

                    case diff < MINUTE:
                        num = Math.round(diff / SECOND);
                        unit = 'sec';
                        plural = num > 1;
                    break;

                    case diff < HOUR:
                        num = Math.round(diff / MINUTE);
                        unit = 'min';
                        plural = num > 1;
                    break;

                    case diff < DAY:
                        num = Math.round(diff / HOUR);
                        unit = 'hour';
                        plural = num > 1;
                    break;

                    case diff < MONTH:
                        num = Math.round(diff / DAY);
                        unit = 'day';
                        plural = num > 1;
                    break;

                    case diff < YEAR:
                        num = Math.round(diff / MONTH);
                        unit = 'month';
                        plural = num > 1;
                    break;

                    case diff < DECADE:
                        num = Math.round(diff / YEAR);
                        unit = 'year';
                        plural = num > 1;
                    break;

                    default:
                        num = Math.round(diff / YEAR);
                        unit = 'year';
                        plural = num > 1;
                }

                var str = '';
                if(num){
                    str += `${num} `;
                }

                str += `${unit}`;

                if(plural){
                    str += 's';
                }

                str += ' ago';

                return str;
            }
        })(window);

        console.log(timeAgo(new Date()));
        console.log(timeAgo(new Date('Jun 03 2018 15:12:19 GMT+0300 (FLE Daylight Time)')));
        console.log(timeAgo(new Date('Jun 03 2018 13:12:19 GMT+0300 (FLE Daylight Time)')));
        console.log(timeAgo(new Date('May 28 2018 13:12:19 GMT+0300 (FLE Daylight Time)')));
        console.log(timeAgo(new Date('May 28 2017 13:12:19 GMT+0300 (FLE Daylight Time)')));
        console.log(timeAgo(new Date('May 28 2000 13:12:19 GMT+0300 (FLE Daylight Time)')));
        console.log(timeAgo(new Date('Sep 10 1994 13:12:19 GMT+0300 (FLE Daylight Time)')));