diff --git a/libbb/time_string.c b/libbb/time_string.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0765290
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libbb/time_string.c
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/* vi: set sw=4 ts=4: */
+/*
+ * Utility routines.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) tons of folks.  Tracking down who wrote what
+ * isn't something I'm going to worry about...  If you wrote something
+ * here, please feel free to acknowledge your work.
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
+ * General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+ *
+ * Based in part on code from sash, Copyright (c) 1999 by David I. Bell 
+ * Permission has been granted to redistribute this code under the GPL.
+ *
+ */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <time.h>
+#include <utime.h>
+#include "libbb.h"
+
+
+/*
+ * Return the standard ls-like time string from a time_t
+ * This is static and so is overwritten on each call.
+ */
+const char *time_string(time_t timeVal)
+{
+	time_t now;
+	char *str;
+	static char buf[26];
+
+	time(&now);
+
+	str = ctime(&timeVal);
+
+	strcpy(buf, &str[4]);
+	buf[12] = '\0';
+
+	if ((timeVal > now) || (timeVal < now - 365 * 24 * 60 * 60L)) {
+		strcpy(&buf[7], &str[20]);
+		buf[11] = '\0';
+	}
+
+	return buf;
+}
+
+
+/* END CODE */
+/*
+Local Variables:
+c-file-style: "linux"
+c-basic-offset: 4
+tab-width: 4
+End:
+*/