The i18n Cookbook - recipies for a global society

 Problem:

You want to spell out a dynamic numeric value being combined with a static resource.

Solution:

Java MessageFormat provides a number of options for formatting the values passed in.  ICU4J provides even more options.

One of the more interesting formatting options is the spellout format.  Spell out will actually write out a numeric value, such as thirty-five vs. 35.

ICU4J's MessageFormat is used similar to the code Java class.

To format a pattern using a spellout pattern:

Problem:

You want to convert a spelled out number to a Number.

Solution:

Parsing a formatted number in Java takes a new twist when the number is fully spelled out.   This can be easily accomplished thanks to the ICU4J library from IBM.  

To parse a spelled out number:

//Get a RuleBasedNumberFormat appropriate for French spellout

RuleBasedNumberFormat rbnf = new RuleBasedNumberFormat(ULocale.ENGLISH,RuleBasedNumberFormat.SPELLOUT);

Problem:

You want to spell out a localized number like "thirty-six."

Solution:

ICU4J provides some number formatting capabilities that core Java does not.  One of those features is the ability to spell out a numeric value.