function switching between singular and plural?

Question

I'm looking for a function that given a string it switches the string to singular/plural. I need it to work for european languages other than English.

Are there any functions that can do the trick? (Given a string to convert and the language?)

Thanks

Answer 1

Here is my handy function:

function plural( $amount, $singular = '', $plural = 's' ) {
    if ( $amount === 1 ) {
        return $singular;
    }
    return $plural;
}

By default, it just adds the 's' after the string. For example:

echo $posts . ' post' . plural( $posts );

This will echo '0 posts', '1 post', '2 posts', '3 posts', etc. But you can also do:

echo $replies . ' repl' . plural( $replies, 'y', 'ies' );

Which will echo '0 replies', '1 reply', '2 replies', '3 replies', etc. Or alternatively:

echo $replies . ' ' . plural( $replies, 'reply', 'replies' );

And it works for some other languages too. For example, in Spanish I do:

echo $comentarios . ' comentario' . plural( $comentarios );

Which will echo '0 comentarios', '1 comentario', '2 comentarios', '3 comentarios', etc. Or if adding an 's' is not the way, then:

echo $canciones . ' canci' . plural( $canciones, 'ón', 'ones' );

Which will echo '0 canciones', '1 canción', '2 canciones', '3 canciones', etc.