Converting a number with comma as decimal point to float

I have a list of prices with a comma for a decimal point and a dot as the thousand separator.

Some examples:

12,30
116,10
1.563,14

These come in this format from a third party. I want to convert them to floats and add them together.

What is the best way to do this? number_format doesn't seem to work with this format, and str_replace seems like overkill, as I have to do it more that once on each number.

Is there are better way? Thanks.

Solution 1:

Using str_replace() to remove the dots is not overkill.

$string_number = '1.512.523,55';
// NOTE: You don't really have to use floatval() here, it's just to prove that it's a legitimate float value.
$number = floatval(str_replace(',', '.', str_replace('.', '', $string_number)));

// At this point, $number is a "natural" float.
print $number;

This is almost certainly the least CPU-intensive way you can do this, and odds are that even if you use some fancy function to do it, that this is what it does under the hood.

Solution 2:

This function is compatible for numbers with dots or commas as decimals

function floatvalue($val){
            $val = str_replace(",",".",$val);
            $val = preg_replace('/\.(?=.*\.)/', '', $val);
            return floatval($val);
}

This works for all kind of inputs (American or european style)

echo floatvalue('1.325.125,54'); // The output is 1325125.54
echo floatvalue('1,325,125.54'); // The output is 1325125.54
echo floatvalue('59,95');        // The output is 59.95
echo floatvalue('12.000,30');    // The output is 12000.30
echo floatvalue('12,000.30');    // The output is 12000.30

Solution 3:

If you're using PHP5.3 or above, you can use numfmt_parse to do "a reversed number_format". If you're not, you stuck with replacing the occurrances with preg_replace/str_replace.

Solution 4:

You could use the NumberFormatter class with its parse method.

Solution 5:

Might look excessive but will convert any given format no mater the locale:

function normalizeDecimal($val, int $precision = 4): string
{
    $input = str_replace(' ', '', $val);
    $number = str_replace(',', '.', $input);
    if (strpos($number, '.')) {
        $groups = explode('.', str_replace(',', '.', $number));
        $lastGroup = array_pop($groups);
        $number = implode('', $groups) . '.' . $lastGroup;
    }
    return bcadd($number, 0, $precision);
}

Output:

.12           -> 0.1200
123           -> 123.0000
123.91        -> 12345678.9100
123 456 78.91 -> 12345678.9100
123,456,78.91 -> 12345678.9100
123.456.78,91 -> 12345678.9100
123 456 78,91 -> 12345678.9100