Get the distance between the given date and now in words using date-fns

#webdev #javascript #tutorial #beginners

import the formatDistanceToNow function from date-fns:

import { formatDistanceToNow } from 'date-fns'

format the date to now:

const date = new Date('2020-01-01T12:00:00Z')
console.log(formatDistanceToNow(date, { addSuffix: true }))

as you've seen, we can also pass the second parameter as an object to specify the options, such as adding the suffix.
you can see all the available options for formatDistanceToNow here

Using a different language

we need to import the language from date-fns, for example, portuguese from Brazil:

import ptBR from 'date-fns/locale/pt-BR'

then use the second parameter to specify the locale

import { formatDistanceToNow } from 'date-fns'
import ptBR from 'date-fns/locale/pt-BR'

const date = new Date('2020-01-01T12:00:00Z')
console.log(
  formatDistanceToNow(date, {
    addSufix: true,
    locale: ptBR,
  })
)