number format to word format

[Rockonmetal]

I am not so sure, but I think there is a way to get it so numbers like 1, 2, and 21 are displayed like first, second, and twenty first. In the script I have below I just need this to happen in one place. Everywhere else doesn't need it.

$shows = 3;
$list = 1;
while($list<=$shows){
    echo "<fieldset>";
    echo "<legend>" . [ICODE]$shownumber[/ICODE] ." show of the " . $tour['name'] . ".</legend>";
        echo "</fieldset>"; /*Theres other stuff after the legend tag, but its not needed so posting that would be wasting space on DD. */ 

The highlighted code in the legend should be a spelled out number like First, Second, Third, so on...

Thanks upfront!

[djr33]

(Note: The php blocks don't allow any tags inside them.)


Well, you've got a problem here. English is a messy language with tons of irregularities.

Honestly, the best way is to just create an array with numbers=>words.
array(1=>'first',2=>'second',3=>'third',....);

There is some logic to this, but with that many irregularities coding any reliable function would be tough.

You can save yourself a bit of time like this:

$x = isset($array[$num])?$array[$num]:word($num).'th';

Check if there is a special value for the number, and if so use that; if not, use the word of the number and add TH.

You can probably find a number=>word function somewhere on the net. (Might even be one using PHP, but I don't know.)

On the other hand, there are a lot of oddities anyway, due to phonetics and odd spellings:
five=>fifth. (th is unvoiced, so the v stops buzzing and becomes an F)
twenty=>twentieth (spelling change by just the standard rules of english)

You could program this, but seems like a lot of work.

You CAN do one thing though-- only the last word gets an ending. Thus, you can remove any first part (451=>450+1), and get the first part as regular numbers then the last bit as the ordinal number (Four Hundred Fifty- + first)

Anyway, really, how high does this need to go?

And look for an existing code-- surely someone has done something like this before.

[phpsales]

If you're trying to just make the number readable in a sentance you could always use the English Ordinal Suffix. E.g. 2nd, 11th, 211th, etc..

Example Code:

/**
  * module: englishOrdinalSuffix
  * summary: converts int to english ordinal suffix number string, e.g. 3rd, 11th, 3543rd
  * params: int x
  * returns: string
  * author: phpsales @ dynamic drive forum
**/    
function englishOrdinalSuffix($x){ 
    $y = ($x%100>10 && $x%100<20 ? 0 : $x%10);
    $eos = array("th","st","nd","rd","th","th","th","th","th","th");
    return number_format($x).$eos[$y];
}


echo englishOrdinalSuffix(1); //1st
echo englishOrdinalSuffix(11); //11th
echo englishOrdinalSuffix(53); //53rd
echo englishOrdinalSuffix(1002); //1,002nd
echo englishOrdinalSuffix(30311); //30,311th