18.3. Normalization and Localization

Zend_Locale_Format is a internal component used by Zend_Locale. All locale aware classes use Zend_Locale_Format for normalization and localization of numbers and dates. Normalization involves parsing input from a variety of data respresentations, like dates, into a standardized, structured representation, such as a PHP array with year, month, and day elements.

The exact same string containing a number or a date might mean different things to people with different customs and conventions. Disambiguation of numbers and dates requires rules about how to interpret these strings and normalize the values into a standardized data structure. Thus, all methods in Zend_Locale_Format require a locale in order to parse the input data.

[Nota] Default "root" Locale

If no locale is specified, then normalization and localization will use the standard "root" locale, which might yield unexpected behavior, if the input originated in a different locale, or output for a specific locale was expected.

18.3.1. Number normalization: getNumber($input, Array $options)

There are many number systems different from the common decimal system (e.g. "3.14"). Numbers can be normalized with the getNumber() function to obtain the standard decimal representation. For all number-related discussions in this manual, Arabic/European numerals (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) are implied, unless explicitly stated otherwise. The options array may contain a 'locale' to define grouping and decimal characters. The array may also have a 'precision' to truncate excess digits from the result.

Exemplo 18.17. Number normalization

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::getNumber('13.524,678', array('locale' => $locale, 'precision' => 3));

print $number; // will return 13524.678
?>

18.3.1.1. Precision and Calculations

Since getNumber($value, array $options = array()) can normalize extremely large numbers, check the result carefully before using finite precision calculations, such as ordinary PHP math operations. For example, if ((string)int_val($number) != $number) { use BCMath or GMP . Most PHP installations support the BCMath extension.

Also, the precision of the resulting decimal representation can be truncated to a desired length with getNumber(). If no precision is given, no truncation occurs. Use only PHP integers to specify the precision. The result will not be rounded. So "1.6" will return "1", not "2", if the precision is zero.

Exemplo 18.18. Number normalization with precision

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::getNumber('13.524,678', array('precision' => 1, 'locale' => $locale));

print $number; // will return 13524.6
?>

18.3.2. Number localization

toNumber($value, array $options = array()) can localize numbers to the supported locales . This function will return a localized string of the given number in a conventional format for a specific locale. The 'number_format' option explicitly specifies a non-default number format for use with toNumber().

Exemplo 18.19. Number localization

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::toNumber(13547.36, array('locale' => $locale));

// will return 13.547,36
print $number;
?>

[Nota] Unlimited length

toNumber() can localize numbers with unlimited length. It is not related to integer or float limitations.

The same way as within getNumber(), toNumber() handles precision. If no precision is given, the complete localized number will be returned.

Exemplo 18.20. Number localization with precision

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::toNumber(13547.3678, array('precision' => 2, 'locale' => $locale));

// will return 13.547,36
print $number;
?>

[Nota] Be aware

toNumber() will truncate the output. The result will not be rounded. So 1.6 will not return 2 but 1 instead.

Using the option 'number_format' a self defined format for generating a number can be defined. The format itself has to be given in CLDR format as described below. The locale is used to get seperation, precission and other number formatting signs from it. German for example defines ',' as precission seperation and in english the '.' sign is used.

Tabela 18.2. Format tokens for self generated number formats

Token Description Example format Generated output
#0 Generates a number without precission and seperation #0 1234567
, Generates a seperation with the length from seperation to next seperation or to 0 #,##0 1,234,567
#,##,##0 Generates a standard seperation of 3 and all following seperations with 2 #,##,##0 12,34,567
. Generates a precission #0.# 1234567.1234
0 Generates a precission with a defined length #0.00 1234567.12

Exemplo 18.21. Using a self defined number format

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::toNumber(13547.3678, array('number_format' => '#,#0.00', 'locale' => 'de'));

// will return 1.35.47,36
print $number;

$number = Zend_Locale_Format::toNumber(13547.3, array('number_format' => '#,##0.00', 'locale' => 'de'));

// will return 13.547,30
print $number;
?>

18.3.3. Number testing

isNumber($value, array $options = array()) checks if a given string is a number and returns true or false.

Exemplo 18.22. Number testing

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale();
if (Zend_Locale_Format::isNumber('13.445,36', array('locale' => 'de_AT')) {
    print "Number";
} else {
    print "not a Number";
} 
?>

18.3.4. Float value normalization

Floating point values can be parsed with the getFloat($value, array $options = array()) function. A floating point value will be returned.

Exemplo 18.23. Floating point value normalization

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::getFloat('13.524,678', array('precision' => 2, 'locale' => $locale));

// will return 13524.67
print $number;
?>

18.3.5. Floating point value localization

toFloat() can localize floating point values. This function will return a localized string of the given number.

Exemplo 18.24. Floating point value localization

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::toFloat(13547.3655, array('precision' => 1, 'locale' => $locale));

// will return 13.547,3
print $number;
?>

[Nota] Be aware

toFloat() will truncate the output. The result will not be rounded. So 1.6 will not return 2 but 1 instead.

18.3.6. Floating point value testing

isFloat($value, array $options = array()) checks if a given string is a floating point value and returns true or false.

Exemplo 18.25. Floating point value testing

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
if (Zend_Locale_Format::isFloat('13.445,36', array('locale' => $locale)) {
    print "float";
} else {
    print "not a float";
} 
?>

18.3.7. Integer value normalization

Integer values can be parsed with the getInteger() function. A integer value will be returned.

Exemplo 18.26. Integer value normalization

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::getInteger('13.524,678', array('locale' => $locale));

// will return 13524
print $number;
?>

18.3.8. Integer point value localization

toInteger($value, array $options = array()) can localize integer values. This function will return a localized string of the given number.

Exemplo 18.27. Integer value localization

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
$number = Zend_Locale_Format::toInteger(13547.3655, array('locale' => $locale));

// will return 13.547
print $number;
?>

18.3.9. Integer value testing

isInteger($value, array $options = array()) checks if a given string is a integer value and returns true or false.

Exemplo 18.28. Integer value testing

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$locale = new Zend_Locale('de_AT');
if (Zend_Locale_Format::isInteger('13.445', array('locale' => $locale)) {
    print "integer";
} else {
    print "not a integer";
} 
?>

18.3.10. Numeral System Conversion

Zend_Locale_Format::convertNumerals() converts digits between different numeral systems , including the standard Arabic/European/Latin numeral system (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9), not to be confused with Eastern Arabic numerals sometimes used with the Arabic language to express numerals. Attempts to use an unsupported numeral system will result in an exception, to avoid accidentally performing an incorrect conversion due to a spelling error. All characters in the input, which are not numerals for the selected numeral system, are copied to the output with no conversion provided for unit separator characters. Zend_Locale* components rely on the data provided by CLDR (see their list of scripts grouped by language).

In CLDR and hereafter, the Europena/Latin numerals will be referred to as "Latin" or by the assigned 4-letter code "Latn". Also, the CLDR refers to this numeral systems as "scripts".

Suppose a web form collected a numeric input expressed using Eastern Arabic digits "١‎٠٠". Most software and PHP functions expect input using Arabic numerals. Fortunately, converting this input to it's equivalent Latin numerals "100" requires little effort using convertNumerals($inputNumeralString, $sourceNumeralSystem, $destNumeralSystem) , which returns the $input with numerals in the script $sourceNumeralSystem converted to the script $destNumeralSystem.

Exemplo 18.29. Converting numerals from Eastern Arabic scripts to European/Latin scripts

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$arabicScript = "١‎٠٠";   // Arabic for "100" (one hundred)
$latinScript = Zend_Locale_Format::convertNumerals($arabicScript, 'Arab', 'Latn');

print "\nOriginal:   " . $arabicScript;
print "\nNormalized: " . $latinScript;
?>

Similarly, any of the supported numeral systems may be converted to any other supported numeral system.

Exemplo 18.30. Converting numerals from Latin script to Eastern Arabic script

<?php
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';

$latinScript = '123';
$arabicScript = Zend_Locale_Format::convertNumerals($latinScript, 'Latn', 'Arab');

print "\nOriginal:  " . $latinScript;
print "\nLocalized: " . $arabicScript;
?>

Exemplo 18.31. Getting 4 letter CLDR script code using a native-language name of the script

<?php
function getScriptCode($scriptName, $locale)
{
    $scripts2names = Zend_Locale_Data::getContent($locale, 'scriptlist');
    $names2scripts = array_flip($scripts2names);
    return $names2scripts[$scriptName];
}
echo getScriptCode('Latin', 'en'); // outputs "Latn"
echo getScriptCode('Tamil', 'en'); // outputs "Taml"
echo getScriptCode('tamoul', 'fr'); // outputs "Taml"
?>

18.3.10.1. List of supported numeral systems

Tabela 18.3. List of supported numeral systems

Notation Name Script
Arabic Arab
Balinese Bali
Bengali Beng
Devanagari Deva
Gujarati Gujr
Gurmukhi Guru
Kannada Knda
Khmer Khmr
Lao Laoo
Limbu Limb
Malayalam Mlym
Mongolian Mong
Myanmar Mymr
New_Tai_Lue Talu
Nko Nkoo
Oriya Orya
Tamil Taml
Telugu Telu
Thai Tale
Tibetan Tibt