note 27394 added to function.number-format

here's a more compact and speedy version: function readable_number($a){ $bits_a = array("thousand", "million", "billion", "trillion", "zillion"); $bits_b = array("ten", "twenty", "thirty", "fourty", "fifty", "sixty", "seventy", "eighty", "ninety"); $bits_c = array("one", "two", "three", "four", "five", "six", "seven", "eight", "nine", "ten", "eleven", "twelve", "thirteen", "fourteen", "fifteen", "sixteen", "seventeen", "eighteen", "nineteen"); if ($a==0){return 'zero';} $out = ($a<0)?'minus ':''; $a = abs($a); for($i=count($bits_a); $i>0; $i--){ $p = pow(1000, $i); if ($a > $p){ $b = floor($a/$p); $a -= $p * $b; $out .= readable_number($b).' '.$bits_a[$i-1].(($a)?', ':''); } } if ($a > 100){ $b = floor($a/100); $a -= 100 * $b; $out .= readable_number($b).' hundred'.(($a)?' and ':' '); } if ($a >= 20){ $b = floor($a/10); $a -= 10 * $b; $out .= $bits_b[$b-1].' '; } if ($a){ $out .= $bits_c[$a-1]; } return $out; } some sample output: 8 = eight 12 = twelve -27 = minus twenty seven 186 = one hundred and eighty six 1,234,567 = one million, two hundred and thirty four thousand, five hundred and sixty seven -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.number-format.php http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=edit+27394 http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+27394 http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=reject+27394