Commatizing numbers

Commatizing numbers (as used here, a handy expedient made-up word) is the act of adding commas to a number (or string), or the numeric part of a larger string.

task

Write a function that takes a string as an argument with optional arguments or parameters (the format of parameters/options is left to the programmer) that in general, adds commas (or some other characters, including blanks or tabs) to the first numeric part of a string (if it's suitable for commatizing), and returns that newly commatized string.

Some of the commatizing rules (specified below) are arbitrary, but they'll be a part of this task requirements, if only to make the results consistent amongst national preferences and other disciplines.

The number may be part of a larger (non-numeric) string such as:

«US$1744 millions» ──or──
±25000 motes.

The string may possibly not have a number suitable for commatizing, so it should be untouched and no error generated.

If any argument (option) is invalid, nothing is changed and no error need be generated (quiet execution, no fail execution). Error message generation is optional.

The exponent part of a number is never commatized. The following string isn't suitable for commatizing: 9.7e+12000

Leading zeroes are never commatized. the string 0000000005714.882 after commatization is: 0000000005,714.882

Any period in a number is assummed to be a decimal point.

The original string is never changed except by the addition of commas (or whatever is used for insertion), if at all.

Leading signs (+, -) are to be preserved (even superfluous signs).

Leading/trailing/imbedded blanks, tabs, and other whitespace are to be preserved. I.E.: +1024 bottles of beer on the wall.

The case (upper/lower) of the exponent indicator is to be preserved. I.E.: 4.8903d-002

Any exponent character(s) should be supported:

1247e12
57256.1D-4
4444^60
7500∙10**35
8500x10**35
+55000↑3
1000**100
2048²
4096^32</sup)
10000pow(pi)

Numbers may be terminated with any non-digit character, including subscripts and/or superscript. 4142135624² or 7320509076₍₂₄₎.

The character(s) to be used for the comma can be specified, and may contain blanks, tabs, and other whitespace, as well as multiple characters. The default is the comma (,) character.

The period length can be specified (sometimes referred to as "thousands"). The period length is the length (or number) of the digits between commas. The default period length is 3.

I.E.: in this example, the period length is five: 56789,12340,14148

The location of where to start the scanning for the target field (the numeric part) should be able to be specified. The default is 1 (one).

The (numeric?) strings below may be placed in a file (and read) or stored as simple strings within the program.

Strings to be used as a minimum

The value of pi should be separated with blanks every 5 places past the decimal point,
the Zimbabwe dollar amount should use a decimal point for the "comma" separator:

pi=3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459231
The author has two Z$100000000000000 Zimbabwe notes (100 trillion).
"-in Aus$+1411.8millions"
===US$0017440 millions=== (in 2000 dollars)
123.e8000 is pretty big.
The land area of the earth is 57268900(29% of the surface) square miles.
Ain't no numbers in this here words, nohow, no way, Jose.
James was never known as 0000000007
Arthur Eddington wrote: I believe there are 15747724136275002577605653961181555468044717914527116709366231425076185631031296 protons in the universe.
␢␢␢$-140000±100 millions.
6/9/1946 was a good year for some.

where the penultimate string has three leading blanks (real blanks are to be used).

Also see

The Wiki entry: Arthur Eddington's number of protons in the universe.

REXX

<lang rexx>/*REXX program adds commas (or other chars) to a number within a string.*/ @. = @.1="pi=3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459231" @.2="The author has two Z$100000000000000 Zimbabwe notes (100 trillion)." @.3="-in Aus$+1411.8millions" @.4="===US$0017440 millions=== (in 2000 dollars)" @.5="123.e8000 is pretty big." @.6="The land area of the earth is 57268900(29% of the surface) square miles." @.7="Ain't no numbers in this here words, nohow, no way, Jose." @.8="James was never known as 0000000007" @.9="Arthur Eddington wrote: I believe there are 15747724136275002577605653961181555468044717914527116709366231425076185631031296 protons in the universe." @.10=" $-140000±100 millions." @.11="6/9/1946 was a good year for some."

     do i=1  while  @.i\==;  if i\==1 then say  /*process each string*/
                   say 'before:'@.i               /*show the before str*/
     if i==1  then say ' after:'comma(@.i,,5,,5)  /*period=5,start=col5*/
     if i==2  then say ' after:'comma(@.i,".")    /*comma=a decimal pt.*/
     if i>2   then say ' after:'comma(@.i)        /*use the defaults.  */
     end   /*j*/

exit /*stick a fork in it, we're done.*/ /*──────────────────────────────────COMMA subroutine────────────────────*/ comma: procedure; parse arg _,c,p,t,s; arg ,u; c=p(c ",") if u=='BLANK' then c=' ' /*special case for a "blank" sep.*/ o=p(p 3) /*get optional period length. */ p=abs(o) /*get positive period length. */ t=p(t 999999999) /*get max# of "commas" to insert.*/ s=p(s 1) /*get optional start position. */ if \isInt(p)| \isInt(t)| \isInt(s)| t<1| s<1 | p==0| arg()>5 then return _ n=_'.9'; #=123456789; k=0 /*define some handy-dandy vars. */ if o<0 then do /*using a negative period length.*/

           b=verify(_,' ',,s)         /*position of 1st blank in string*/
           e=length(_)-verify(reverse(_),' ')+1-p
           end
      else do                         /*using a positive period length.*/
           b=verify(n,#,"M",s)        /*position of 1st useable digits.*/
           z=max(1,verify(n,#"0.",'M',s))
           e=verify(n,#'0',,max(1,verify(n,#"0.",'M',s)))-p-1
           end

if e>0 & b>0 then do j=e to b by -p while k<t /*commatize the digs*/

                  _=insert(c,_,j)                  /*comma spray ──► #.*/
                  k=k+1                            /*bump commatizing. */
                  end   /*j*/

return _ /*──────────────────────────────────one-liner subroutines───────────────*/ isInt: return datatype(arg(1),'W') /*is the argument a whole number?*/ p: return word(arg(1), 1) /*return the first word found. */</lang> output when using the internal strings for input:

before:pi=3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459231
 after:pi=3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459231

before:The author has two Z$100000000000000 Zimbabwe notes (100 trillion).
 after:The author has two Z$100.000.000.000.000 Zimbabwe notes (100 trillion).

before:-in Aus$+1411.8millions
 after:-in Aus$+1,411.8millions

before:===US$0017440 millions=== (in 2000 dollars)
 after:===US$0017,440 millions=== (in 2000 dollars)

before:123.e8000 is pretty big.
 after:123.e8000 is pretty big.

before:The land area of the earth is  57268900(29% of the surface)  square miles.
 after:The land area of the earth is  57,268,900(29% of the surface)  square miles.

before:Ain't no numbers in this here words, nohow, no way, Jose.
 after:Ain't no numbers in this here words, nohow, no way, Jose.

before:James was never known as  0000000007
 after:James was never known as  0000000007

before:Arthur Eddington wrote: I believe there are 15747724136275002577605653961181555468044717914527116709366231425076185631031296 protons in the universe.
 after:Arthur Eddington wrote: I believe there are 15,747,724,136,275,002,577,605,653,961,181,555,468,044,717,914,527,116,709,366,231,425,076,185,631,031,296 protons in the universe.

before:   $-140000±100  millions.
 after:   $-140,000±100  millions.

before:6/9/1946 was a good year for some.
 after:6/9/1946 was a good year for some.