use warnings; use strict; printf "%9d seconds is about %s\n", $_, ApproxTime ($_) for 4, 250, 1.5e4, 4e5, 3e6, 12e6, 1.5e8; sub ApproxTime { my ($period) = @_; my @periods = ( ['seconds', 180, 60], ['minutes', 240, 60], ['hours', 48, 24], ['days', 16, 7], ['weeks', 10, 4.3482143], ['months', 30, 12], ['years'], ); while ($periods[0][1] && $period > $periods[0][1]) { $period /= $periods[0][2]; shift @periods; } $period = int $period; return "$period $periods[0][0]"; } #### 4 seconds is about 4 seconds 250 seconds is about 4 minutes 15000 seconds is about 4 hours 400000 seconds is about 4 days 3000000 seconds is about 4 weeks 12000000 seconds is about 4 months 150000000 seconds is about 4 years