Skip to main content

Convert Words to Number

wordsToNumber​

Converts an English cardinal or ordinal word string into its numeric value.

Supports hyphenated words, "and", ordinals (first, second, etc.), negatives, and large scales (thousand, million, etc.) up to 10^20 (one hundred quintillion).

Function Signature​

function wordsToNumber(word: string): number;

Parameters​

  • word — The English word representation of a number to convert (can be cardinal or ordinal).

Returns​

  • A number containing the numeric value of the input.
  • Returns NaN if the input cannot be parsed.
Warning
  • For very large numbers (quintillion and beyond), results may not always be correct.
  • Mixed words with non-numeric tokens (e.g., "seventy-seven cats") will return NaN.

Examples​

import { wordsToNumber } from 'nhb-toolbox';

wordsToNumber('forty-two'); 
// 42

wordsToNumber('one hundred and seven'); 
// 107

wordsToNumber('two thousand three hundred'); 
// 2300

wordsToNumber('twenty-first'); 
// 21

wordsToNumber('negative five'); 
// -5

wordsToNumber('one hundred quintillion'); 
// 1e20

wordsToNumber('one zillion'); 
// NaN

Supported Features​

  • Cardinal numbers: "one", "two", ..., "one hundred", etc.
  • Ordinal numbers: "first", "second", ..., "twenty-first", etc.
  • Large scales: "thousand", "million", ..., "quintillion" (up to 10^20).
  • Negative numbers: "minus five", "negative forty-two".
  • Hyphenated or spaced numbers: "forty-two" or "forty two".
  • "And" in numbers: "one hundred and one".
  • Numeric strings: "1,234", "042", "3.14".

Aliases​

wordsToNumber can also be imported as following alias:

  • convertWordsToNumber
  • wordToNumber
  • convertWordToNumber

Notes​

  • The function uses predefined constants for ones, teens, tens, and thousands scales to parse the word form.
  • Leading/trailing/multiple spaces are normalized during processing.
  • Negative numbers are correctly converted to negative numeric values.
  • For converting numbers to their cardinal word representation, refer to numberToWords.
  • For converting numbers to their ordinal word representation, refer to numberToWordsOrdinal.

Edge Cases​

  • Empty strings or strings with only whitespace return NaN.
  • Mixed words with non-numeric tokens (e.g., "seventy-seven cats") return NaN.
  • Unsupported scales (e.g., "sextillion") return NaN.
  • Commas are only allowed in numeric strings (e.g., "1,234"), not in word forms.

Conclusion​

Use wordsToNumber to convert English word representations of numbers into numeric values. Ideal for processing user input, natural language parsing, or accessibility features where numeric interpretation of words is required.