From: Phrogz <phrogz@...>
Date: 2007-11-26T01:05:04+09:00
Subject: Re: Convert words to numbers and back?

On Nov 25, 12:03 am, Jordon Bedwell <jor...@envygeeks.com> wrote:
> What I need to do is convert "22/11/2007" to
> "twenty-two/eleven/two-thousand-seven" and then convert it back to
> "22/11/2007", what I will be doing is building a plugin for Mephisto to
> highjack my archive URIs to words over numbers and then converting it
> back to Mephisto when it comes back in.  Out as word in as number.  That
> way no major changes have to be made to the backend itself.  It doesn't
> have to add in the dashes since I can simply do that with split (" ")
> and join ("-").  I did look into Linguistics but it is a one way
> conversion, I need 2 way conversion.  Thanks.

For 7 -> "seven" see:
http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz25.html

The reverse would make a fun problem to solve, too.
Here, let me get you started:

ENGLISH_VALUE = {}
%w| zero one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven
    twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen
    nineteen |.each_with_index{ |word,i| ENGLISH_VALUE[word] = i }

%w| zero ten twenty thirty forty fifty sixty seventy eighty
    ninety|.each_with_index{ |word,i| ENGLISH_VALUE[word] = i*10 }
ENGLISH_VALUE['hundred'] = 100
%w| one thousand million billion trillion|.each_with_index{ |word,i|
  ENGLISH_VALUE[word] = 10**(i*3)
}

class Integer
  def self.from_english( words )
    values = words.downcase.split( /\W+/ ).map{ |word|
      ENGLISH_VALUE[word]
    }
    # Put your magic here
  end
end

TESTS = {
  'one'=>1,
  'seventy three'=>73,
  'ninety nine'=>99,
  'one hundred'=>100,
  'one hundred one'=>101,
  'one hundred twenty'=>120,
  'three hundred sixty four'=>364,
  'eight thousand five'=>8_005,
  'forty-three thousand twelve'=>43_012,
  'two billion one hundred thousand seventeen'=>2_000_100_117
}

TESTS.each{ |word,expected_value|
  actual_value = Integer.from_english( word )
  unless actual_value == expected_value
    warn "From '#{word}', " <<
         "expected: #{expected_value}, " <<
         "actual: #{actual_value.inspect}"
  end
}

#=> From 'forty-three thousand twelve', expected: 43012, actual: [40,
3, 1000, 12]
#=> From 'one hundred one', expected: 101, actual: [1, 100, 1]
#=> From 'ninety nine', expected: 99, actual: [90, 9]
#=> From 'one', expected: 1, actual: [1]
#=> From 'eight thousand five', expected: 8005, actual: [8, 1000, 5]
#=> From 'one hundred twenty', expected: 120, actual: [1, 100, 20]
#=> From 'two billion one hundred thousand seventeen', expected:
2000100117, actual: [2, 1000000000, 1, 100, 1000, 17]
#=> From 'three hundred sixty four', expected: 364, actual: [3, 100,
60, 4]
#=> From 'one hundred', expected: 100, actual: [1, 100]
#=> From 'seventy three', expected: 73, actual: [70, 3]