DEV Community: yoosef alipour

Numera 2.1: Laravel Support, 184 Languages, and a Whole Lot More

yoosef alipour — Mon, 25 May 2026 19:58:19 +0000

A follow-up to Numera: A PHP Library for Number to Words Conversion

When I published the first article about Numera back in 2024, it was a simple library with one goal: convert numbers to words in PHP. The response was encouraging, and the community feedback (including the great note about en vs en-US) pushed me to think bigger.

Today, Numera 2.1 is out — and it's a different beast. Same simple API, but now with 184 language packs, a Laravel bridge, GitHub Actions CI, and a set of new reading modes that cover real-world use cases I kept running into.

Let me walk you through what's new.

Install

# Plain PHP
composer require pinoox/numera:^2.1

# Laravel 9 / 10 / 11
composer require pinoox/numera-laravel

What's new in 2.1

1. Laravel integration — first-class

The most-requested feature. Install pinoox/numera-laravel and you get auto-discovery, a Facade, and a publishable config — nothing to wire up manually.

use Pinoox\Numera\Laravel\Facades\Numera;

echo Numera::n2w(2024);               // two thousand twenty-four
echo Numera::toCurrency(1500, 'USD'); // one thousand, five hundred dollars

Numera::setLocale('fa');
echo Numera::n2w(1500); // هزار و پانصد

Publish the config to set your default locale:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=numera-config

// config/numera.php
return [
    'default_locale'  => 'en',
    'fallback_locale' => 'en',
];

All public methods work on the Facade — n2w, w2n, toOrdinal, toCurrency, withUnit, toWeekday, translateTo, and all the new ones below.

2. 184 language packs with regional variants

Numera now ships with 184 ISO 639-1 language packs plus regional variants like en-US, en-GB, fa-IR, and de-AT. Regional files only declare overrides; everything else is inherited from the parent locale.

Numera::init('en-GB')->toCurrency(3.01, 'GBP'); // three pounds and one penny
Numera::init('fa-IR')->getWeekdays();            // starts Saturday
Numera::init('de-AT')->getStrategyName();        // german (inherited from de)

Languages with special compounding rules use a strategy system:

Strategy	Locales	Why
`german`	`de`, `de-*`	Inverted tens: einundzwanzig
`french`	`fr`, `fr-*`	Vigesimal 70–99: quatre-vingts
`multiplier_tens`	`id`, `ms`, `vi`, …	2×10+3, not 2+10+3
`default`	Most others	English-style place value

3. Smart input formats

Different regions format numbers differently. Numera now handles them all automatically.

$n = Numera::init('en');

// European format (dot as thousands, comma as decimal)
echo $n->n2w('1.234.567,89');

// Swiss format (apostrophe as thousands)
echo $n->n2w("1'234'567.89");

// Persian/Arabic digits
echo $n->n2w('۱۲۳۴'); // converted to 1234 automatically

// Underscore separator (PHP/Python style)
echo $n->n2w('1_000_000'); // one million

You can also detect the format explicitly:

Numera::detectFormat('1.234,56');   // 'european'
Numera::detectFormat("1'000");      // 'swiss'
Numera::detectFormat('۱۲۳');       // 'persian'
Numera::detectFormat('1_000_000'); // 'underscore'

4. Fraction reading

Common fractions are now read naturally instead of as raw decimals.

$n = Numera::init('en');

echo $n->toFraction(0.5);   // one half
echo $n->toFraction(0.25);  // one quarter
echo $n->toFraction(0.75);  // three quarters
echo $n->toFraction(1.5);   // one and a half
echo $n->toFraction(2.333); // two and one third

// Persian
echo Numera::init('fa')->toFraction(0.5); // نیم
echo Numera::init('fa')->toFraction(1.5); // یک و نیم

Short alias: n2f()

5. Year reading

Years are spoken differently from cardinals — "nineteen ninety-nine", not "one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine".

$n = Numera::init('en');

echo $n->toYear(1999); // nineteen ninety-nine
echo $n->toYear(2000); // two thousand
echo $n->toYear(2005); // two thousand and five
echo $n->toYear(2024); // twenty twenty-four

// Persian falls back to standard cardinal
echo Numera::init('fa')->toYear(1402); // هزار و چهارصد و دو

Short alias: n2y()

6. Phone number reading

Read phone numbers digit-by-digit, preserving the grouping from the input format.

$n = Numera::init('en');

echo $n->toPhone('+1 415 555 0172');
// plus one, four one five, five five five, zero one seven two

echo $n->toPhone('021-8834-1100');
// zero two one, eight eight three four, one one zero zero

// Persian digits work too
echo $n->toPhone('۰۲۱-۸۸۳۴');
// zero two one, eight eight three four

Short alias: n2p()

7. Roman numerals

$n = Numera::init('en');

echo $n->toRoman(2024);   // MMXXIV
echo $n->toRoman(1999);   // MCMXCIX
echo $n->fromRoman('XIV'); // 14
echo $n->fromRoman('xl');  // 40 (case-insensitive)

Range: 1–3999. Throws InvalidArgumentException outside that range.

Short alias: n2r()

8. IP address and version string reading

$n = Numera::init('en');

echo $n->toIp('192.168.1.1');
// one ninety-two dot one sixty-eight dot one dot one

echo $n->toVersion('2.14.0');
// two point fourteen point zero

echo $n->toVersion('1.0.0-beta');
// one point zero point zero dash beta

Short aliases: n2ip(), n2v()

9. GitHub Actions CI

Numera now runs a full test matrix on every push and PR — PHP 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3. No more "works on my machine" surprises.

What still carries over from 2.0

Everything from the previous release still works exactly the same:

// Cardinals
Numera::init('en')->n2w(4454545156);
// four billion, four hundred fifty-four million, ...

// Ordinals
Numera::init('en')->n2o(21); // twenty-first
Numera::init('fa')->n2o(21); // بیست و یکم

// Currency
Numera::init('en')->toCurrency(1250.50, 'USD');
// one thousand, two hundred fifty dollars and fifty cents

// Units
Numera::init('en')->withUnit(5, 'hour'); // five hours
Numera::init('fa')->withUnit(1, 'day');  // یک روز

// Weekdays
Numera::init('fa')->toWeekday(6); // شنبه

// Cross-locale translation
Numera::init('fa')->translateTo('en', 'دویست و یک'); // two hundred one
Numera::init('en')->translateTo('fa', 'two hundred one'); // دویست و یک

Real-world use cases

Invoice systems — convert totals to words for legal documents:

echo Numera::init('fa')->toCurrency(15750000, 'IRR');
// پانزده میلیون و هفتصد و پنجاه هزار ریال

Accessibility — read version numbers and IPs aloud in screen-reader friendly text:

echo Numera::init('en')->toVersion('3.2.1'); // three point two point one

Financial reports — ordinals for ranking, fractions for ratios:

echo Numera::init('en')->n2o(1);         // first
echo Numera::init('en')->toFraction(0.5); // one half

Forms and CRMs — read user-entered phone numbers back:

echo Numera::init('en')->toPhone('+44 20 7946 0958');

My Real Experience Using Cursor on a Production Project

yoosef alipour — Fri, 15 May 2026 14:25:49 +0000

A few months ago, I started working on a pretty serious web project.

It included:

A dashboard
Authentication system
APIs
Admin panels
Responsive UI
And a lot of small details that usually become exhausting over time

At first, I honestly didn’t expect much from AI coding tools.

I thought they were mostly good for simple autocomplete and small snippets.

But this project completely changed my opinion after I started using Cursor AI.

Before Cursor

Before Cursor, my workflow was usually chaotic:

Building UI components
Switching to documentation
Searching Stack Overflow
Debugging random issues
Refactoring files again and again
Repeating the same cycle every day

Even medium-sized projects could easily take me close to a month to fully finish.

So I decided to try building this project with Cursor from start to finish.

The Moment I Realized Cursor Was Different

The difference became obvious after a few days.

For example, one section of the project included:

Login & signup forms
Validation
API integration
State management
Error handling
Responsive design

Normally, this kind of setup would take me several days because I constantly reorganize code structure while building.

But Cursor surprised me.

It wasn’t just generating code.

It actually understood the project structure and gave smart suggestions based on the existing codebase.

It helped me:

Create reusable components faster
Refactor messy code
Generate boilerplate in seconds
Explain errors
Catch bugs before I noticed them myself

The Best Part Wasn’t Just Speed

One night I remember sitting back, drinking my coffee calmly while the project was moving forward much faster than usual.

That was the moment I realized the biggest advantage wasn’t only speed.

It was mental energy.

Instead of wasting hours on repetitive tasks, I could focus more on:

Architecture
Logic
Product quality
User experience

Projects that previously took me nearly a month are now being completed in around 5 days — and honestly, with better quality than before.

Final Thoughts

Of course, AI doesn’t replace a developer.

You still need to understand:

Programming
Architecture
Problem solving

But if you already know how to code, Cursor genuinely feels like having a smart teammate beside you the entire time.

After using it on real projects, it’s honestly hard for me to go back to a normal editor.

You can try Cursor for free first, and if you like it, you can get it with 50% off using my referral link below:

Referral Link

https://cursor.com/referral?code=GFAAAM3MTYRY

Numera: A PHP Library for Number to Words Conversion

yoosef alipour — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 08:34:07 +0000

As a developer, you may have encountered situations where you need to convert numbers to words or vice versa. This can be a tedious task, especially when dealing with large numbers or multiple languages. That's where Numera comes in - a powerful PHP library that makes number to words conversion a breeze.

In this article, we'll explore the features and benefits of Numera, and show you how to use it in your PHP projects.

What is Numera?

Numera is a PHP library that provides a simple and efficient way to convert numbers to words and vice versa. It supports multiple languages, including English and Persian, with more languages to come. Numera is designed to be easy to use and extend, making it a great tool for any PHP project.

Features of Numera

Numera has a range of features that make it a powerful tool for number to words conversion. Some of the key features include:

Number to Words Conversion: Convert numbers to words in a variety of languages.
Words to Number Conversion: Convert words to numbers in a variety of languages.
Camel Case Support: Output words in camel case for easier readability.
Multi-Language Support: Supports multiple languages, with more languages to come.
Easy to Use: Simple and intuitive API makes it easy to use Numera in your projects.
Easy to Extend: Numera is designed to be easy to extend, making it simple to add support for new languages.

Install via Composer

You can install Numera using Composer:

composer require pinoox/numera

How to Use Numera

Using Numera is straightforward. Here's an example of how to convert a number to words:

use Pino\Numera;

$numera = Numera::init('en'); // Initialize with English locale
$result = $numera->convertToWords(4454545156);
echo $result; // Output: "four billion, four hundred fifty-four million, five hundred forty-five thousand, one hundred fifty-six"

Converting words to numbers is just as easy:

$result = $numera->convertToNumber('four billion, four hundred fifty-four million, five hundred forty-five thousand, one hundred fifty-six');
echo $result; // Output: 4454545156

Benefits of Using Numera

There are several benefits to using Numera in your PHP projects. Some of the key benefits include:

Saves Time: Numera saves you time and effort by providing a simple and efficient way to convert numbers to words and vice versa.
Improves Readability: Numera's camel case support makes it easy to output words in a readable format.
Multi-Language Support: Numera's support for multiple languages makes it a great tool for international projects.
Easy to Use: Numera's simple and intuitive API makes it easy to use, even for developers with limited experience.

Get Started with Numera

To get started with Numera, head over to the Numera GitHub repository and follow the installation instructions. You can also check out the Numera documentation for more information on how to use Numera in your projects.

Conclusion

Numera is a powerful and flexible PHP library that makes number to words conversion a breeze. With its support for multiple languages, camel case output, and easy-to-use API, Numera is a great tool for any PHP project. Whether you're working on a simple website or a complex application, Numera is definitely worth considering.