1  
   2  preg_replace('/[^a-zA-Z0-9-\s]/', '', "TAGholy! moley. & bat's were killed ^% by ; dogs, for £50"); 

   1  
   2  function time_since($original) {
   3      // array of time period chunks
   4      $chunks = array(
   5          array(60 * 60 * 24 * 365 , 'year'),
   6          array(60 * 60 * 24 * 30 , 'month'),
   7          array(60 * 60 * 24 * 7, 'week'),
   8          array(60 * 60 * 24 , 'day'),
   9          array(60 * 60 , 'hour'),
  10          array(60 , 'minute'),
  11      );
  12      
  13      $today = time(); /* Current unix time  */
  14      $since = $today - $original;
  15  	
  16  	if($since > 604800) {
  17  		$print = date("M jS", $original);
  18  	
  19  		if($since > 31536000) {
  20  				$print .= ", " . date("Y", $original);
  21  			}
  22  
  23  		return $print;
  24  
  25  	}
  26      
  27      // $j saves performing the count function each time around the loop
  28      for ($i = 0, $j = count($chunks); $i < $j; $i++) {
  29          
  30          $seconds = $chunks[$i][0];
  31          $name = $chunks[$i][1];
  32          
  33          // finding the biggest chunk (if the chunk fits, break)
  34          if (($count = floor($since / $seconds)) != 0) {
  35              // DEBUG print "<!-- It's $name -->\n";
  36              break;
  37          }
  38      }
  39  
  40      $print = ($count == 1) ? '1 '.$name : "$count {$name}s";
  41  
  42      return $print . " ago";
  43  
  44  }