java - Parsing date times in "X minutes/hours/days/weeks/months/years ago" format -

how can parse dates in format x minutes/hours/days/weeks/months/years ago. here examples show i'm referring to:

• 3 days ago
• 1 minute ago
• 2 years ago

i don't think is possible default java libraries. right?

a little snippet based on calendar api.

pattern p = pattern.compile("(\\d+)\\s+(.*?)s? ago");  map<string, integer> fields = new hashmap<string, integer>() {{     put("second", calendar.second);     put("minute", calendar.minute);     put("hour",   calendar.hour);     put("day",    calendar.date);     put("week",   calendar.week_of_year);     put("month",  calendar.month);     put("year",   calendar.year); }};  string[] tests = {         "3 days ago",         "1 minute ago",         "2 years ago" };  (string test : tests) {      matcher m = p.matcher(test);      if (m.matches()) {         int amount = integer.parseint(m.group(1));         string unit = m.group(2);          calendar cal = calendar.getinstance();         cal.add(fields.get(unit), -amount);         system.out.printf("%s: %tf, %<tt%n", test, cal);     } } 

output:

3 days ago: 2012-08-18, 09:21:38 1 minute ago: 2012-08-21, 09:20:38 2 years ago: 2010-08-21, 09:21:38