getting an international number from a string

[calorie]

Yeah, I see, working on a new one.

Okay, try the below, both with and without the following commented:

        // $locale_info['decimal_point'] = ',';

Depending on your $locale_info['decimal_point'] it should work one way but not the other.

<?php

$variables = array(
        '1999',
        '1999.49',
        '1999,49',
        '1,999.49',
        '1.999,49',
        '1,999.5'
);

$locale_info = localeconv();

foreach ($variables AS $variable)
{
        // $locale_info['decimal_point'] = ',';

        $variable_orig = $variable;

        if ($locale_info['decimal_point'] == ',')
        {
                $variable = str_replace(array('.',','), array('','.'), $variable);
        }
        else
        {
                $variable = str_replace(',', '', $variable);
        }

        $variable = sprintf("%01.2f", $variable);

        echo $variable_orig.' => '.$variable."\n<br />\n";
}

?>

With $locale_info['decimal_point'] commented (my decimal point is period):

1999 => 1999.00
1999.49 => 1999.49
1999,49 => 199949.00    XX
1,999.49 => 1999.49
1.999,49 => 2.00        XX
1,999.5 => 1999.50

With $locale_info['decimal_point'] UNcommented (my decimal point now comma):

1999 => 1999.00
1999.49 => 199949.00    XX
1999,49 => 1999.49
1,999.49 => 2.00        XX
1.999,49 => 1999.49
1,999.5 => 2.00         XX

So it depends on the $locale_info['decimal_point'] setting.