How to convert from value to word ?

Question

Hi all,
I intend to convert from value into words such as 234.50 will be two hundred and thirty four and cents fifty. How should I code or any function will able to produce this ?
Please advise.
Rgds
Lim

Answer 1

Lim
The SP format modifier spells out part of a date - so does YEAR:
SQL> select to_char(sysdate,'YEAR') from dual
  2  /
TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'YEAR')
TWO THOUSAND EIGHT
SQL> To spell out a money amount, you have to take a decimal number and break it into dollars and cents (both integers):
SQL> r
  1  declare
  2    amount number(10,2) := 12345.67;
  3    dollars integer;
  4    cents integer;
  5  begin
  6    dollars := floor(amount);
  7    cents := (amount - dollars) * 100;
  8    dbms_output.put_line(to_char(to_date(dollars,'J'), 'JSP') ||  ' dollars a
nd ' ||
  9        to_char(to_date(cents,'J'),'JSP') || ' cents');
10* end;
TWELVE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED FORTY-FIVE dollars and SIXTY-SEVEN cents
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>Note that the spelling out is rather american (in UK we wouldn't add the hyphen and we would say twelve thousand three hundred AND forty five).
Using JSP means we are spelling out a Julian date (ie a number of days, which is allowed to get pretty large. But watch out - there is a limit (somwhere between 1 and 10 million) - ie the number of days between minimum date (4172 BC) and max date (around 31/12/9999).
HTH
Regards Nigel