Swift iOS doesRelativeDateFormatting have different values besides "Today" and "Yesterday"?

Question

I have a number of dates that I am trying to represent using a relative date such as "Today, Yesterday, 1 week ago, 1 month ago" etc...

This is the Swift code I am using:

let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateStyle = .MediumStyle
dateFormatter.doesRelativeDateFormatting = true
let uploadDate = dateFormatter.stringFromDate(date)

Only "Today" and "Yesterday" are represented and the rest of the dates appear like the below: Nov 24, 2014 Nov 17, 2014 etc...

Is there another way to represent all the dates using relative dating instead of the actual dates?

Answer 1

edit/Update: Xcode 8.3.2 • Swift 3.1

It is really easy if you use extensions and Calendar methods to help you with your calendrical calculations:

extension Date {
    var yearsFromNow: Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.year], from: self, to: Date()).year!
    }
    var monthsFromNow: Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.month], from: self, to: Date()).month!
    }
    var weeksFromNow: Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.weekOfYear], from: self, to: Date()).weekOfYear!
    }
    var daysFromNow: Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.day], from: self, to: Date()).day!
    }
    var isInYesterday: Bool {
        return Calendar.current.isDateInYesterday(self)
    }
    var hoursFromNow: Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.hour], from: self, to: Date()).hour!
    }
    var minutesFromNow: Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.minute], from: self, to: Date()).minute!
    }
    var secondsFromNow: Int {
        return Calendar.current.dateComponents([.second], from: self, to: Date()).second!
    }
    var relativeTime: String {
        if yearsFromNow > 0 { return "\(yearsFromNow) year" + (yearsFromNow > 1 ? "s" : "") + " ago" }
        if monthsFromNow > 0 { return "\(monthsFromNow) month" + (monthsFromNow > 1 ? "s" : "") + " ago" }
        if weeksFromNow > 0 { return "\(weeksFromNow) week" + (weeksFromNow > 1 ? "s" : "") + " ago" }
        if isInYesterday { return "Yesterday" }
        if daysFromNow > 0 { return "\(daysFromNow) day" + (daysFromNow > 1 ? "s" : "") + " ago" }
        if hoursFromNow > 0 { return "\(hoursFromNow) hour" + (hoursFromNow > 1 ? "s" : "") + " ago" }
        if minutesFromNow > 0 { return "\(minutesFromNow) minute" + (minutesFromNow > 1 ? "s" : "") + " ago" }
        if secondsFromNow > 0 { return secondsFromNow < 15 ? "Just now"
            : "\(secondsFromNow) second" + (secondsFromNow > 1 ? "s" : "") + " ago" }
        return ""
    }
}

Testing

let calendar =  Calendar.current

let date1 = DateComponents(calendar: calendar, year: 2016, month:  3, day: 14, hour: 22, minute: 39).date!
let date2 = DateComponents(calendar: calendar, year: 2019, month:  4, day: 18, hour: 22, minute: 39).date!
let date3 = DateComponents(calendar: calendar, year: 2019, month: 6, day:  2, hour: 12, minute: 38).date!
let date4 = DateComponents(calendar: calendar, year: 2019, month: 6, day:  14, hour: 3, minute: 0).date!
let date5 = DateComponents(calendar: calendar, year: 2019, month: 6, day:  17, hour: 23, minute: 45).date!
let date6 = DateComponents(calendar: calendar, year: 2019, month: 6, day:  18, hour: 19, minute:  17).date!
let timeOffset1 = date1.relativeTime // "3 years ago"
let timeOffset2 = date2.relativeTime // "1 month ago"
let timeOffset3 = date3.relativeTime // "2 weeks ago"
let timeOffset4 = date4.relativeTime // "4 days ago"
let timeOffset5 = date5.relativeTime // "Yesterday"
let timeOffset6 = date6.relativeTime // "Just now"