PHP Class: Convert Plural to Singular or Vice Versa in English

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I was trying to find a PHP function or class that can convert English words / nouns in plural form into their singular form so that wordcrow.com automatically detects and redirects plural lookup to the singular page. After a while searching on Google, I found this class.

This great class (Inflector) was ported from Ruby on Rails to PHP in the Akelos Framework by Akelos Media, S.L. http://www.akelos.com/.

List of Functions

Other than pluralize and singularize, this class has some more functions to convert text strings by certain standards. List below are all the functions this class has:

• Inflector::pluralize – return the plural form of the given English word, e.g. “search” to “searches”.
• Inflector::singularize – return the singular form of the given English word, e.g. “searches” to “search”.
• Inflector::titleize – create a title text from the given string, e.g. “WelcomePage”, “welcome_page” or “welcome page” to “Welcome Page”.
• Inflector::camelize – return the CamelCased text from the given string, e.g. “send_email” to “SendEmail”, “who’s online” to “WhoSOnline”.
• Inflector::underscore – return a underscored text from the given string, e.g. “CamelCased” or “ordinary Word” to “underscored_word” that is lowercased.
• Inflector::humanize – return a human-readable text from the given string, e.g., by replacing underscores with spaces, and by upper-casing the initial character by default.
• Inflector::variablize – same as camelize but first char is underscored.
• Inflector::tableize – converts a class name to its table name by rails naming conventions.
• Inflector::classify – converts a table name to its class name by rails naming conventions.
• Inflector::ordinalize – converts a natural number to its ordinal form in English, e.g. “2” to “2nd”, “15” to “15th”, “31” to “31st”.

Inflector Class

<?php

/* vim: set expandtab tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4: */

// +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
// | Akelos PHP Application Framework                                     |
// +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
// | Copyright (c) 2002-2006, Akelos Media, S.L.  http://www.akelos.com/  |
// | Released under the GNU Lesser General Public License                 |
// +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
// | You should have received the following files along with this library |
// | - COPYRIGHT (Additional copyright notice)                            |
// | - DISCLAIMER (Disclaimer of warranty)                                |
// | - README (Important information regarding this library)              |
// +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

/**
* Inflector for pluralize and singularize English nouns.
*
* This Inflector is a port of Ruby on Rails Inflector.
*
* It can be really helpful for developers that want to
* create frameworks based on naming conventions rather than
* configurations.
*
* It was ported to PHP for the Akelos Framework, a
* multilingual Ruby on Rails like framework for PHP that will
* be launched soon.
*
* @author Bermi Ferrer Martinez 
* @copyright Copyright (c) 2002-2006, Akelos Media, S.L. http://www.akelos.org
* @license GNU Lesser General Public License 
* @since 0.1
* @version $Revision 0.1 $
*/
class Inflector
{
    // ------ CLASS METHODS ------ //

    // ---- Public methods ---- //

    // {{{ pluralize()

    /**
    * Pluralizes English nouns.
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @param    string    $word    English noun to pluralize
    * @return string Plural noun
    */
    function pluralize($word)
    {
        $plural = array(
        '/(quiz)$/i' => '1zes',
        '/^(ox)$/i' => '1en',
        '/([m|l])ouse$/i' => '1ice',
        '/(matr|vert|ind)ix|ex$/i' => '1ices',
        '/(x|ch|ss|sh)$/i' => '1es',
        '/([^aeiouy]|qu)ies$/i' => '1y',
        '/([^aeiouy]|qu)y$/i' => '1ies',
        '/(hive)$/i' => '1s',
        '/(?:([^f])fe|([lr])f)$/i' => '12ves',
        '/sis$/i' => 'ses',
        '/([ti])um$/i' => '1a',
        '/(buffal|tomat)o$/i' => '1oes',
        '/(bu)s$/i' => '1ses',
        '/(alias|status)/i'=> '1es',
        '/(octop|vir)us$/i'=> '1i',
        '/(ax|test)is$/i'=> '1es',
        '/s$/i'=> 's',
        '/$/'=> 's');

        $uncountable = array('equipment', 'information', 'rice', 'money', 'species', 'series', 'fish', 'sheep');

        $irregular = array(
        'person' => 'people',
        'man' => 'men',
        'child' => 'children',
        'sex' => 'sexes',
        'move' => 'moves');

        $lowercased_word = strtolower($word);

        foreach ($uncountable as $_uncountable){
            if(substr($lowercased_word,(-1*strlen($_uncountable))) == $_uncountable){
                return $word;
            }
        }

        foreach ($irregular as $_plural=> $_singular){
            if (preg_match('/('.$_plural.')$/i', $word, $arr)) {
                return preg_replace('/('.$_plural.')$/i', substr($arr[0],0,1).substr($_singular,1), $word);
            }
        }

        foreach ($plural as $rule => $replacement) {
            if (preg_match($rule, $word)) {
                return preg_replace($rule, $replacement, $word);
            }
        }
        return false;

    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ singularize()

    /**
    * Singularizes English nouns.
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @param    string    $word    English noun to singularize
    * @return string Singular noun.
    */
    function singularize($word)
    {
        $singular = array (
        '/(quiz)zes$/i' => '\1',
        '/(matr)ices$/i' => '\1ix',
        '/(vert|ind)ices$/i' => '\1ex',
        '/^(ox)en/i' => '\1',
        '/(alias|status)es$/i' => '\1',
        '/([octop|vir])i$/i' => '\1us',
        '/(cris|ax|test)es$/i' => '\1is',
        '/(shoe)s$/i' => '\1',
        '/(o)es$/i' => '\1',
        '/(bus)es$/i' => '\1',
        '/([m|l])ice$/i' => '\1ouse',
        '/(x|ch|ss|sh)es$/i' => '\1',
        '/(m)ovies$/i' => '\1ovie',
        '/(s)eries$/i' => '\1eries',
        '/([^aeiouy]|qu)ies$/i' => '\1y',
        '/([lr])ves$/i' => '\1f',
        '/(tive)s$/i' => '\1',
        '/(hive)s$/i' => '\1',
        '/([^f])ves$/i' => '\1fe',
        '/(^analy)ses$/i' => '\1sis',
        '/((a)naly|(b)a|(d)iagno|(p)arenthe|(p)rogno|(s)ynop|(t)he)ses$/i' => '\1\2sis',
        '/([ti])a$/i' => '\1um',
        '/(n)ews$/i' => '\1ews',
        '/s$/i' => '',
        );

        $uncountable = array('equipment', 'information', 'rice', 'money', 'species', 'series', 'fish', 'sheep');

        $irregular = array(
        'person' => 'people',
        'man' => 'men',
        'child' => 'children',
        'sex' => 'sexes',
        'move' => 'moves');

        $lowercased_word = strtolower($word);
        foreach ($uncountable as $_uncountable){
            if(substr($lowercased_word,(-1*strlen($_uncountable))) == $_uncountable){
                return $word;
            }
        }

        foreach ($irregular as $_plural=> $_singular){
            if (preg_match('/('.$_singular.')$/i', $word, $arr)) {
                return preg_replace('/('.$_singular.')$/i', substr($arr[0],0,1).substr($_plural,1), $word);
            }
        }

        foreach ($singular as $rule => $replacement) {
            if (preg_match($rule, $word)) {
                return preg_replace($rule, $replacement, $word);
            }
        }

        return $word;
    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ titleize()

    /**
    * Converts an underscored or CamelCase word into a English
    * sentence.
    *
    * The titleize function converts text like "WelcomePage",
    * "welcome_page" or  "welcome page" to this "Welcome
    * Page".
    * If second parameter is set to 'first' it will only
    * capitalize the first character of the title.
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @param    string    $word    Word to format as tile
    * @param    string    $uppercase    If set to 'first' it will only uppercase the
    * first character. Otherwise it will uppercase all
    * the words in the title.
    * @return string Text formatted as title
    */
    function titleize($word, $uppercase = '')
    {
        $uppercase = $uppercase == 'first' ? 'ucfirst' : 'ucwords';
        return $uppercase(Inflector::humanize(Inflector::underscore($word)));
    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ camelize()

    /**
    * Returns given word as CamelCased
    *
    * Converts a word like "send_email" to "SendEmail". It
    * will remove non alphanumeric character from the word, so
    * "who's online" will be converted to "WhoSOnline"
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @see variablize
    * @param    string    $word    Word to convert to camel case
    * @return string UpperCamelCasedWord
    */
    function camelize($word)
    {
        return str_replace(' ','',ucwords(preg_replace('/[^A-Z^a-z^0-9]+/',' ',$word)));
    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ underscore()

    /**
    * Converts a word "into_it_s_underscored_version"
    *
    * Convert any "CamelCased" or "ordinary Word" into an
    * "underscored_word".
    *
    * This can be really useful for creating friendly URLs.
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @param    string    $word    Word to underscore
    * @return string Underscored word
    */
    function underscore($word)
    {
        return  strtolower(preg_replace('/[^A-Z^a-z^0-9]+/','_',
        preg_replace('/([a-zd])([A-Z])/','1_2',
        preg_replace('/([A-Z]+)([A-Z][a-z])/','1_2',$word))));
    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ humanize()

    /**
    * Returns a human-readable string from $word
    *
    * Returns a human-readable string from $word, by replacing
    * underscores with a space, and by upper-casing the initial
    * character by default.
    *
    * If you need to uppercase all the words you just have to
    * pass 'all' as a second parameter.
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @param    string    $word    String to "humanize"
    * @param    string    $uppercase    If set to 'all' it will uppercase all the words
    * instead of just the first one.
    * @return string Human-readable word
    */
    function humanize($word, $uppercase = '')
    {
        $uppercase = $uppercase == 'all' ? 'ucwords' : 'ucfirst';
        return $uppercase(str_replace('_',' ',preg_replace('/_id$/', '',$word)));
    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ variablize()

    /**
    * Same as camelize but first char is underscored
    *
    * Converts a word like "send_email" to "sendEmail". It
    * will remove non alphanumeric character from the word, so
    * "who's online" will be converted to "whoSOnline"
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @see camelize
    * @param    string    $word    Word to lowerCamelCase
    * @return string Returns a lowerCamelCasedWord
    */
    function variablize($word)
    {
        $word = Inflector::camelize($word);
        return strtolower($word[0]).substr($word,1);
    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ tableize()

    /**
    * Converts a class name to its table name according to rails
    * naming conventions.
    *
    * Converts "Person" to "people"
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @see classify
    * @param    string    $class_name    Class name for getting related table_name.
    * @return string plural_table_name
    */
    function tableize($class_name)
    {
        return Inflector::pluralize(Inflector::underscore($class_name));
    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ classify()

    /**
    * Converts a table name to its class name according to rails
    * naming conventions.
    *
    * Converts "people" to "Person"
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @see tableize
    * @param    string    $table_name    Table name for getting related ClassName.
    * @return string SingularClassName
    */
    function classify($table_name)
    {
        return Inflector::camelize(Inflector::singularize($table_name));
    }

    // }}}
    // {{{ ordinalize()

    /**
    * Converts number to its ordinal English form.
    *
    * This method converts 13 to 13th, 2 to 2nd ...
    *
    * @access public
    * @static
    * @param    integer    $number    Number to get its ordinal value
    * @return string Ordinal representation of given string.
    */
    function ordinalize($number)
    {
        if (in_array(($number % 100),range(11,13))){
            return $number.'th';
        }else{
            switch (($number % 10)) {
                case 1:
                return $number.'st';
                break;
                case 2:
                return $number.'nd';
                break;
                case 3:
                return $number.'rd';
                default:
                return $number.'th';
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    // }}}

}

?>

Usage Examples

/* Singular to plural / Plural to singular */

echo Inflector::pluralize('search'); // outputs searches
echo Inflector::singularize('cases'); // outputs case
echo Inflector::pluralize('query'); // outputs queries
echo Inflector::singularize('queries'); // outputs query
echo Inflector::pluralize('ability'); // outputs abilities
echo Inflector::singularize('abilities'); // outputs ability
echo Inflector::pluralize('analysis'); // outputs analyses
echo Inflector::singularize('analyses'); // outputs analysis
echo Inflector::pluralize('information'); // outputs information
echo Inflector::singularize('information'); // outputs information
echo Inflector::pluralize('mouse'); // outputs mice
echo Inflector::singularize('mice'); // outputs mouse

/* CamelCase to underscore / underscore to CamelCase */

echo Inflector::underscore('SpecialGuest'); // outputs special_guest
echo Inflector::camelize('special_guest'); // outputs SpecialGuest
echo Inflector::underscore('FreeBSD'); // outputs free_bsd
echo Inflector::camelize('free_bsd'); // outputs FreeBsd
echo Inflector::underscore('HTML'); // outputs html
echo Inflector::camelize('html'); // outputs Html

/* Underscore to "human-text" / "Human-text" to Underscore */

echo Inflector::humanize('employee_salary'); // outputs Employee salary
echo Inflector::underscore('Employee salary'); // outputs employee_salary

/* Examples of titleize() */

echo Inflector::titleize('ActiveRecord'); // outputs Active Record
echo Inflector::titleize('action web service'); // outputs Action Web Service

/* Examples of ordinalize() */

echo Inflector::ordinalize(1); // outputs 1st
echo Inflector::ordinalize(2); // outputs 2nd
echo Inflector::ordinalize(3); // outputs 3rd
echo Inflector::ordinalize(4); // outputs 4th
echo Inflector::ordinalize(5); // outputs 5th
echo Inflector::ordinalize(20); // outputs 20th
echo Inflector::ordinalize(21); // outputs 21st