Thread Location: http://www.tforumhacks.com/tforum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=635

add this function to functions.php

function TimeDifference($timestamp)
{	global $txt;
	$difference = time() - $timestamp;
	$secs = $difference % 60;
	$difference = intval($difference / 60);
	$mins = $difference % 60;
	$difference = intval($difference / 60);
	$hours = $difference % 24;
	$days = intval($difference / 24);
	if ($days) {
		if ($days > 1) $TimeDifference = str_replace("XX",$days,$txt["days"]);
		else $TimeDifference = str_replace("XX",$days,$txt["day"]);
	}
	else if ($hours) {
		if ($hours > 1) $TimeDifference = str_replace("XX",$hours,$txt["hours"]);
		else $TimeDifference = str_replace("XX",$hours,$txt["hour"]);
	}
	else if ($mins) {
		if ($mins > 1) $TimeDifference = str_replace("XX",$mins,$txt["mins"]);
		else $TimeDifference = str_replace("XX",$mins,$txt["min"]);
	}
	else {
		if ($secs > 1) $TimeDifference = str_replace("XX",$secs,$txt["secs"]);
		else $TimeDifference = str_replace("XX",$secs,$txt["sec"]);
	}
	return $TimeDifference;
}


add the following lines to english_lg.php (and every other language file you have installed)

$txt["day"] = "XX day ago";
$txt["hour"] = "XX hour ago";
$txt["min"] = "XX minute ago";
$txt["sec"] = "XX second ago";
$txt["days"] = "XX days ago";
$txt["hours"] = "XX hours ago";
$txt["mins"] = "XX minutes ago";
$txt["secs"] = "XX seconds ago";

you can alter these strings to get the format you want. XX will be replaced with the correct number.

whereever you want a time difference instead of a absolute time use

TimeDifference(...)

instead of

FormatDate(...,$CurrentUserInfo[timezone])

and

FormatTime(...,$CurrentUserInfo[timezone])