# Newbie Question on Time

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-on-time/112876>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 24, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-on-time/112876 "2007-08-24T01:51:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jables](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/58956e/32.png) [@Jables](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jables)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-on-time/112876/1 "2007-08-24T01:51:21Z")

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This may be ridiculously easy, but what is the best way to format/  
calculate how much time has passed since a record was created. I have  
a created\_at field in my table and I want to say that a record was  
created XXXX ago, for instance 2 days 1 hour ago.  
Thanks,  
JB

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**Author:** ![Jables](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/58956e/32.png) [@Jables](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jables)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-on-time/112876/2 "2007-08-24T02:12:22Z")

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Rails to the rescue - “time\_ago\_in\_words” will do what you need

time\_ago\_in\_words(Time.now - (10.hours + 25.minutes)) # outputs =\>  
“About 10 hours”

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**Author:** ![Jables](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/58956e/32.png) [@Jables](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jables)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-on-time/112876/3 "2007-08-24T02:34:24Z")

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Thanks dang.