From 6a24c96f7f61e5e651466cc3d4c6a30982318efe Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christopher Dial <dial.chris@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2026 14:32:42 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] [ie/youtube] Fix `extract_relative_time` for abbreviated
 units (#16687)

Authored by: dialmaster
---
 test/test_youtube_misc.py         | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 yt_dlp/extractor/youtube/_base.py | 24 ++++++++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 57 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/test/test_youtube_misc.py b/test/test_youtube_misc.py
index 81b116217a..ad3c498a66 100644
--- a/test/test_youtube_misc.py
+++ b/test/test_youtube_misc.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
 
 
 from yt_dlp.extractor import YoutubeIE
+from yt_dlp.extractor.youtube._base import YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor
 
 
 class TestYoutubeMisc(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -21,6 +22,42 @@ class TestYoutubeMisc(unittest.TestCase):
         assertExtractId('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKcsharePLED17F32AD9753930', 'BaW_jenozKc')
         assertExtractId('BaW_jenozKc', 'BaW_jenozKc')
 
+    def test_extract_relative_time(self):
+        ert = YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor.extract_relative_time
+
+        # Abbreviated forms must equal their long-form equivalents.
+        self.assertEqual(ert('5d ago'), ert('5 days ago'))
+        self.assertEqual(ert('1mo ago'), ert('1 month ago'))
+        self.assertEqual(ert('2mo ago'), ert('2 months ago'))
+        self.assertEqual(ert('1y ago'), ert('1 year ago'))
+        self.assertEqual(ert('1yr ago'), ert('1 year ago'))
+        self.assertEqual(ert('3w ago'), ert('3 weeks ago'))
+        self.assertEqual(ert('3wk ago'), ert('3 weeks ago'))
+
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('30s ago'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('30sec ago'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('10min ago'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('5h ago'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('5hr ago'))
+
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('today'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('yesterday'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('now'))
+
+        self.assertEqual(ert('5 days ago'), ert('5 day ago'))
+
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('streamed 6 days ago'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('5 seconds ago (edited)'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('updated today'))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(ert('8 yr ago'))
+
+        self.assertIsNone(ert('not a date string'))
+        self.assertIsNone(ert(''))
+
+        # Small safety check to prevent "drift".
+        for unit in YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor._RELATIVE_TIME_UNIT_MAP:
+            self.assertIsNotNone(ert(f'1 {unit} ago'), f'unit {unit!r} did not parse')
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube/_base.py b/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube/_base.py
index 61611e55e7..0a123f0c1d 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube/_base.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube/_base.py
@@ -1184,8 +1184,20 @@ class YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor(InfoExtractor):
                 })
         return thumbnails
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def extract_relative_time(relative_time_text):
+    # Map abbreviated relative-time units to the long-form unit names that
+    # datetime_from_str() understands.
+    _RELATIVE_TIME_UNIT_MAP = {
+        's': 'second', 'sec': 'second', 'second': 'second',
+        'min': 'minute', 'minute': 'minute',
+        'h': 'hour', 'hr': 'hour', 'hour': 'hour',
+        'd': 'day', 'day': 'day',
+        'w': 'week', 'wk': 'week', 'week': 'week',
+        'mo': 'month', 'month': 'month',
+        'y': 'year', 'yr': 'year', 'year': 'year',
+    }
+
+    @classmethod
+    def extract_relative_time(cls, relative_time_text):
         """
         Extracts a relative time from string and converts to dt object
         e.g. 'streamed 6 days ago', '5 seconds ago (edited)', 'updated today', '8 yr ago'
@@ -1195,15 +1207,19 @@ class YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor(InfoExtractor):
         # The relative time text strings are roughly the same as what
         # Javascript's Intl.RelativeTimeFormat function generates.
         # See: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Intl/RelativeTimeFormat
+        # Sort longest-first: regex alternation matches left-to-right, so short
+        # keys like 's' must come after 'sec'/'second' to avoid premature matches.
+        units = '|'.join(map(re.escape, sorted(cls._RELATIVE_TIME_UNIT_MAP, key=len, reverse=True)))
         mobj = re.search(
-            r'(?P<start>today|yesterday|now)|(?P<time>\d+)\s*(?P<unit>sec(?:ond)?|s|min(?:ute)?|h(?:our|r)?|d(?:ay)?|w(?:eek|k)?|mo(?:nth)?|y(?:ear|r)?)s?\s*ago',
+            rf'(?P<start>today|yesterday|now)|(?P<time>\d+)\s*(?P<unit>{units})s?\s*ago',
             relative_time_text)
         if mobj:
             start = mobj.group('start')
             if start:
                 return datetime_from_str(start)
+            unit = cls._RELATIVE_TIME_UNIT_MAP[mobj.group('unit')]
             try:
-                return datetime_from_str('now-{}{}'.format(mobj.group('time'), mobj.group('unit')))
+                return datetime_from_str(f'now-{mobj.group("time")}{unit}')
             except ValueError:
                 return None