Convert time difference to elapsed time

Create a function that converts a time interval between two timestamps to a more human-readable "elapsed time" format, similar to how social media apps do it.

import time
import threading

# create a table measuring key intervals in seconds
table = [1,             # seconds (1 to avoid division by 0)
         60,            # 1 minute
         3600,          # 1 hour
         3600*24,       # 1 day
         36002430,    # 1 month
         36002430*12] # 1 year

# list to hold interval endings

endings = ["s", "m", "h", "d", "mo", "y"]
def seconds2elapsed(t):
  difference = abs(time.time() - t)

  #convert to integer (truncate decimal point)
  difference = int(difference)

  if (difference == 0)
    return "now"

i = 5
# iterate over table backwards
for interval in reversed(table):
  # if difference is greater:
  t = table[i]
  v = (difference - difference % t)) / t

  # early exit from function
  return f"{int(v){endings[i]}}"

#python's for loops don't have indexing
(unless used with enumerable, iterate manually)
i -= 1

Let's test the function!

since = time.time()
def every3seconds():
  # execute this function every 3.0 seconds
  threading.Timer(3.0, every3seconds).start()
  print(f"{seconds2elapsed(since)}")

# trigger the timer
every3seconds()

Output:

3s

6s
9s

12s
15s

18s
21s

24s
27s

30s
33s

36s
39s

42s
45s

48s
51s

54s
57s

1m
1m

1m
1m
1m