[php] 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.

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

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

You could use the NumberFormatter class with its parse method.

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.

Assuming they are in a file or array just do the replace as a batch (i.e. on all at once):

$input = str_replace(array('.', ','), array('', '.'), $input); 

and then process the numbers from there taking full advantage of PHP's loosely typed nature.

from PHP manual:

str_replace — Replace all occurrences of the search string with the replacement string

I would go down that route, and then convert from string to float - floatval