singular or plural output string

[Bosconian]

This might seem like a trivial thing, but has anyone has come up with a
better way of outputting a singular vs. plural string?

For example:

// default plural label
$string = "appointmen ts";
// singular label
if (mysql_num_rows ($results) == 1) $string = "appointmen t";
print mysql_num_rows( $results) . $string;

$results always contain 1 or more records so "0 appointments" is not
applicable.

Is there a way to do this in one line (perhaps with regular expressions)
without resorting to something lame like "1 appointment(s)" ?

Again, no biggie and the above syntax is tried and true, but it's always
nice to learn a new trick now and then.

Thanks.

[Andy Hassall]

Re: singular or plural output string

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 16:24:03 -0800, "Bosconian" <bosconian@plan etx.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>This might seem like a trivial thing, but has anyone has come up with a
>better way of outputting a singular vs. plural string?
>
>$results always contain 1 or more records so "0 appointments" is not
>applicable.
>
>Is there a way to do this in one line (perhaps with regular expressions)
>without resorting to something lame like "1 appointment(s)" ?
>
>Again, no biggie and the above syntax is tried and true, but it's always
>nice to learn a new trick now and then.[/color]

I tend to use something like:

print $count . ' noun' . ($count == 1 ? '' : 's')

--
Andy Hassall :: andy@andyh.co.u k :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool

[Bosconian]

Re: singular or plural output string

"Andy Hassall" <andy@andyh.co. uk> wrote in message
news:4khgs1tf5q ao7mdc7r1t72753 n5ov22mrj@4ax.c om...[color=blue]
> On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 16:24:03 -0800, "Bosconian" <bosconian@plan etx.com>[/color]
wrote:[color=blue]
>[color=green]
> >This might seem like a trivial thing, but has anyone has come up with a
> >better way of outputting a singular vs. plural string?
> >
> >$results always contain 1 or more records so "0 appointments" is not
> >applicable.
> >
> >Is there a way to do this in one line (perhaps with regular expressions)
> >without resorting to something lame like "1 appointment(s)" ?
> >
> >Again, no biggie and the above syntax is tried and true, but it's always
> >nice to learn a new trick now and then.[/color]
>
> I tend to use something like:
>
> print $count . ' noun' . ($count == 1 ? '' : 's')
>
> --
> Andy Hassall :: andy@andyh.co.u k :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
> http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool[/color]

That works nicely--thanks!

[john.d.mann@sbcglobal.net]

Re: singular or plural output string

Bosconian wrote:[color=blue]
> This might seem like a trivial thing, but has anyone has come up with a
> better way of outputting a singular vs. plural string?
>
> For example:
>
> // default plural label
> $string = "appointmen ts";
> // singular label
> if (mysql_num_rows ($results) == 1) $string = "appointmen t";
> print mysql_num_rows( $results) . $string;
>
> $results always contain 1 or more records so "0 appointments" is not
> applicable.
>
> Is there a way to do this in one line (perhaps with regular expressions)
> without resorting to something lame like "1 appointment(s)" ?
>
> Again, no biggie and the above syntax is tried and true, but it's always
> nice to learn a new trick now and then.
>
> Thanks.
>
>[/color]

Well, you can always put that code into a function in its own php file
and then just include it in your php file which will use it... Then you
could call it on one line each time you needed it. For example:

include('printp lural.php');
....
print_plural($m ystring, $db_result);
....

[Bosconian]

Re: singular or plural output string

<john.d.mann@sb cglobal.net> wrote in message
news:f9syf.9425 $dW3.1196@newss vr21.news.prodi gy.com...[color=blue]
> Bosconian wrote:[color=green]
> > This might seem like a trivial thing, but has anyone has come up with a
> > better way of outputting a singular vs. plural string?
> >
> > For example:
> >
> > // default plural label
> > $string = "appointmen ts";
> > // singular label
> > if (mysql_num_rows ($results) == 1) $string = "appointmen t";
> > print mysql_num_rows( $results) . $string;
> >
> > $results always contain 1 or more records so "0 appointments" is not
> > applicable.
> >
> > Is there a way to do this in one line (perhaps with regular expressions)
> > without resorting to something lame like "1 appointment(s)" ?
> >
> > Again, no biggie and the above syntax is tried and true, but it's always
> > nice to learn a new trick now and then.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >[/color]
>
> Well, you can always put that code into a function in its own php file
> and then just include it in your php file which will use it... Then you
> could call it on one line each time you needed it. For example:
>
> include('printp lural.php');
> ...
> print_plural($m ystring, $db_result);
> ...[/color]

I wrap reusable code in functions all the time, but in this case it's not
needed.

[Bosconian]

Re: singular or plural output string

"Bosconian" <bosconian@plan etx.com> wrote in message
news:_ZudnWhCXc iPmVHenZ2dnUVZ_ tWdnZ2d@comcast .com...[color=blue]
> <john.d.mann@sb cglobal.net> wrote in message
> news:f9syf.9425 $dW3.1196@newss vr21.news.prodi gy.com...[color=green]
> > Bosconian wrote:[color=darkred]
> > > This might seem like a trivial thing, but has anyone has come up with[/color][/color][/color]
a[color=blue][color=green][color=darkred]
> > > better way of outputting a singular vs. plural string?
> > >
> > > For example:
> > >
> > > // default plural label
> > > $string = "appointmen ts";
> > > // singular label
> > > if (mysql_num_rows ($results) == 1) $string = "appointmen t";
> > > print mysql_num_rows( $results) . $string;
> > >
> > > $results always contain 1 or more records so "0 appointments" is not
> > > applicable.
> > >
> > > Is there a way to do this in one line (perhaps with regular[/color][/color][/color]
expressions)[color=blue][color=green][color=darkred]
> > > without resorting to something lame like "1 appointment(s)" ?
> > >
> > > Again, no biggie and the above syntax is tried and true, but it's[/color][/color][/color]
always[color=blue][color=green][color=darkred]
> > > nice to learn a new trick now and then.
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> > >[/color]
> >
> > Well, you can always put that code into a function in its own php file
> > and then just include it in your php file which will use it... Then you
> > could call it on one line each time you needed it. For example:
> >
> > include('printp lural.php');
> > ...
> > print_plural($m ystring, $db_result);
> > ...[/color]
>
> I wrap reusable code in functions all the time, but in this case it's not
> needed.
>
>[/color]

On second thought, breaking this out as a function proves useful:

function print_plural($t emp, $count) {
return $count . ' ' . $temp . ($count == 1 ? '' : 's');
}

print print_plural('a ppointment', mysql_num_rows( $result));

[Oli Filth]

Re: singular or plural output string

Bosconian said the following on 16/01/2006 21:03:[color=blue][color=green]
>> <john.d.mann@sb cglobal.net> wrote in message
>> news:f9syf.9425 $dW3.1196@newss vr21.news.prodi gy.com...[color=darkred]
>>> Bosconian wrote:
>>>> This might seem like a trivial thing, but has anyone has come up with
>>>> a better way of outputting a singular vs. plural string?
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Well, you can always put that code into a function in its own php file
>>> and then just include it in your php file which will use it... Then you
>>> could call it on one line each time you needed it. For example:
>>>
>>> include('printp lural.php');
>>> ...
>>> print_plural($m ystring, $db_result);
>>> ...[/color][/color]
>
> On second thought, breaking this out as a function proves useful:
>
> function print_plural($t emp, $count) {
> return $count . ' ' . $temp . ($count == 1 ? '' : 's');
> }
>
> print print_plural('a ppointment', mysql_num_rows( $result));
>[/color]

Of course, beware of non-standard pluralisation, e.g. "children",
"geese", "bacteria", "fish", "mice", "oxen", etc.


--
Oli

[Malcolm Dew-Jones]

Re: singular or plural output string

Oli Filth (catch@olifilth .co.uk) wrote:
: Bosconian said the following on 16/01/2006 21:03:
: >> <john.d.mann@sb cglobal.net> wrote in message
: >> news:f9syf.9425 $dW3.1196@newss vr21.news.prodi gy.com...
: >>> Bosconian wrote:
: >>>> This might seem like a trivial thing, but has anyone has come up with
: >>>> a better way of outputting a singular vs. plural string?
: >>>>
: >>>>
: >>> Well, you can always put that code into a function in its own php file
: >>> and then just include it in your php file which will use it... Then you
: >>> could call it on one line each time you needed it. For example:
: >>>
: >>> include('printp lural.php');
: >>> ...
: >>> print_plural($m ystring, $db_result);
: >>> ...
: >
: > On second thought, breaking this out as a function proves useful:
: >
: > function print_plural($t emp, $count) {
: > return $count . ' ' . $temp . ($count == 1 ? '' : 's');
: > }
: >
: > print print_plural('a ppointment', mysql_num_rows( $result));
: >

: Of course, beware of non-standard pluralisation, e.g. "children",
: "geese", "bacteria", "fish", "mice", "oxen", etc.

don't get too tricky (untested)

function plural( $count, $word, $words )
{
if ($count > 1)) return $words;
else return $word;
}

e.g.

print "the ".plural($count ,"customer","cu stomers")
print "the ".plural($cooke d,"goose" ,"geese")


Or use a lookup table to convert singles to plurals


# define array $plurals ahead of time with all the
# words that pluralizing

function plural( $count, $word )
{
if ($count >1) return $plurals[$word];
else return $word;