smart_date_formatter

A Flutter package that converts DateTime into smart, human-readable strings.
Stop writing repetitive date formatting code in every project!

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✨ Features

• ⏱️ Relative time — "Just now", "2 hours ago", "Last week", "3 months ago"
• 📅 Calendar strings — "Today", "Yesterday", "Monday", "12 Jan 2024"
• 🕐 Short timestamps — "2:30 PM", "Mon 4:15 PM", "5 Mar"
• ✅ Boolean helpers — isToday, isYesterday, isTomorrow, isPast, isFuture
• 🛠️ Utility extensions — startOfDay, endOfDay
• 🌍 Custom labels — full localization support
• 💙 Null safe — fully supports Dart null safety
• 🪶 Zero dependencies — no external packages needed

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📦 Installation

Add to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  smart_date_formatter: ^0.0.2

Then run:

flutter pub get

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🚀 Quick Start

import 'package:smart_date_formatter/smart_date_formatter.dart';

// Relative time
DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(seconds: 5)).timeAgo;   // "Just now"
DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(minutes: 2)).timeAgo;   // "2 minutes ago"
DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(hours: 3)).timeAgo;     // "3 hours ago"
DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(days: 1)).timeAgo;      // "Yesterday"
DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(days: 9)).timeAgo;      // "Last week"
DateTime.now().add(Duration(days: 1)).timeAgo;           // "Tomorrow"
DateTime.now().add(Duration(days: 4)).timeAgo;           // "in 4 days"

// Calendar strings
DateTime.now().calendar;                                  // "Today"
DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(days: 1)).calendar;     // "Yesterday"
DateTime.now().add(Duration(days: 2)).calendar;          // "Wednesday"
DateTime(2023, 3, 7).calendar;                           // "7 March 2023"

// Short timestamps
DateTime.now().shortTimestamp;                            // "2:30 PM"
DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(days: 2)).shortTimestamp; // "Mon 2:30 PM"
DateTime(2024, 1, 5).shortTimestamp;                     // "5 Jan"

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📖 Full Usage

1️⃣ Relative Time — .timeAgo

import 'package:smart_date_formatter/smart_date_formatter.dart';

final date = DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(hours: 2));
print(date.timeAgo); // "2 hours ago"

Time Difference	Output
< 10 seconds	Just now
< 60 seconds	45 seconds ago
1 minute	1 minute ago
< 60 minutes	25 minutes ago
1 hour	1 hour ago
< 24 hours	5 hours ago
1 day back	Yesterday
1 day ahead	Tomorrow
< 7 days	3 days ago
~1 week	Last week
< 30 days	2 weeks ago
~1 month	Last month
< 12 months	3 months ago
~1 year	Last year
2+ years	2 years ago

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2️⃣ Calendar Format — .calendar

final date = DateTime.now().add(Duration(days: 3));
print(date.calendar); // "Wednesday"

Date	Output
Today	Today
Yesterday	Yesterday
Tomorrow	Tomorrow
Within this week	Wednesday
Last week	Last Tuesday
Older	7 March 2023

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3️⃣ Short Timestamp — .shortTimestamp

final date = DateTime.now();
print(date.shortTimestamp); // "2:30 PM"

Date	Output
Today	2:30 PM
Within this week	Mon 9:15 AM
Older	5 Mar

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4️⃣ Boolean Extensions

DateTime.now().isToday;              // true
DateTime.now().isYesterday;          // false
DateTime.now().isTomorrow;           // false
DateTime.now().isPast;               // false
DateTime(2099, 1, 1).isFuture;       // true

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5️⃣ Utility Extensions

final now = DateTime.now();

now.startOfDay;   // 2024-06-15 00:00:00.000
now.endOfDay;     // 2024-06-15 23:59:59.999

Perfect for database range queries:

// Fetch all records from today
final results = await db.query(
  where: 'created_at BETWEEN ? AND ?',
  whereArgs: [
    DateTime.now().startOfDay.toIso8601String(),
    DateTime.now().endOfDay.toIso8601String(),
  ],
);

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6️⃣ Using the Class Directly

final formatter = SmartDateFormatter();

formatter.format(someDate);           // relative time
formatter.calendar(someDate);         // calendar string
formatter.shortTimestamp(someDate);   // short timestamp

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7️⃣ Custom Labels (Localization) 🌍

// Hindi example
final hindiFormatter = SmartDateFormatter(
  labels: {
    'justNow': 'अभी',
    'secondsAgo': 'सेकंड पहले',
    'minuteAgo': '1 मिनट पहले',
    'minutesAgo': 'मिनट पहले',
    'hourAgo': '1 घंटा पहले',
    'hoursAgo': 'घंटे पहले',
    'yesterday': 'कल',
    'tomorrow': 'आने वाला कल',
    'lastWeek': 'पिछले हफ्ते',
    'lastMonth': 'पिछले महीने',
    'lastYear': 'पिछले साल',
  },
);

print(hindiFormatter.format(
  DateTime.now().subtract(Duration(hours: 2))
)); // "2 घंटे पहले"

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💡 Real World Examples

Chat App — Message Timestamps

ListTile(
  title: Text(message.text),
  trailing: Text(message.sentAt.timeAgo), // "2 mins ago"
)

Notification Screen

Text(notification.createdAt.calendar) // "Yesterday"

Social Media Post

Text(post.publishedAt.shortTimestamp) // "Mon 4:15 PM"

Conditional UI

// Show "NEW" badge only for today's content
if (article.publishedAt.isToday)
  Badge(label: Text('NEW'))

// Highlight overdue tasks in red
color: task.dueDate.isPast ? Colors.red : Colors.green,

Database Query

// Get today's orders
final todayOrders = orders.where(
  (o) => o.createdAt.isToday
).toList();

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🔄 Before vs After

Before smart_date_formatter:

// ❌ 30+ lines of manual code in every project
String getTimeAgo(DateTime date) {
  final diff = DateTime.now().difference(date);
  if (diff.inSeconds < 60) return '${diff.inSeconds} seconds ago';
  if (diff.inMinutes < 60) return '${diff.inMinutes} minutes ago';
  if (diff.inHours < 24) return '${diff.inHours} hours ago';
  // ... 30 more lines, still incomplete!
}

bool isToday(DateTime date) {
  final now = DateTime.now();
  return date.year == now.year &&
         date.month == now.month &&
         date.day == now.day;
}

After smart_date_formatter:

// ✅ Clean, complete, one line
date.timeAgo       // "2 hours ago"
date.isToday       // true
date.calendar      // "Yesterday"

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📊 API Reference

Extensions on DateTime

Extension	Return Type	Description
.timeAgo	String	Relative time string
.calendar	String	Calendar format string
.shortTimestamp	String	Short time/date string
.isToday	bool	Is date today?
.isYesterday	bool	Is date yesterday?
.isTomorrow	bool	Is date tomorrow?
.isPast	bool	Is date in the past?
.isFuture	bool	Is date in the future?
.startOfDay	DateTime	Start of day 00:00:00
.endOfDay	DateTime	End of day 23:59:59

SmartDateFormatter Class

Method	Description
format(date, {now})	Returns relative time string
calendar(date, {now})	Returns calendar string
shortTimestamp(date, {now})	Returns short timestamp

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🧪 Testing

flutter test

All core functions are fully tested with edge cases covered.

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how:

1. Fork the repo — github.com/harshyadavDeveloper/smart_date_formatter
2. Create your feature branch — git checkout -b feat/amazing-feature
3. Commit your changes — git commit -m 'feat: add amazing feature'
4. Push to branch — git push origin feat/amazing-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

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🐛 Issues & Feedback

Found a bug or have a feature request? 👉 Open an issue

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📄 License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

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👨‍💻 Author

Made with 💙 by Harsh Yadav

If this package helped you, please ⭐ the repo and 👍 like it on pub.dev!