Roman

Item Description: Counting in roman numbers

Review Synopsis: Simple but convenient, limited to 4000

Description

Roman is a module for conversion between Roman and Arabic numerals.

  use Roman;

  $arabic = arabic($roman) if isroman($roman);
  $roman = Roman($arabic);
  $roman = roman($arabic);
[download]

Why use Roman?

to number list item numbers in roman format
to display dates in an MPAA approved format

Why NOT use Roman?

if you need Roman numbers above 4000 (or if you don't need roman numbers!)

Note: the module does not have a Makefile.PL, so you will have to copy it in your perl module path yourself that should be something like /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.0/. Alternatively you can use ExtUtils::MakeMaker to generate a Makefile.PL:

perl -e 'use ExtUtils::MakeMaker; WriteMakefile(NAME => "Roman");'

Personal comments

Roman is a little module that I found when I had to convert Roman numbered lists from XML to HTML. Instead of spending half an hour remembering how those guys counted then writing it myself it took me 5 minutes to install a generic solution. Cool!

I guess now with Unicode being available the module could be upgraded to handle more numbers.

Update: it might look like Dominus does not quite like Roman: Roman.pm is a new contender for stupidest Perl module ever written. but he is actually talking about a different module, one he wrote himself and apparently never submitted to CPAN, which allows you to write things like $IV+$IV and get VIII as a result.

Comment on Roman Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Roman by Willard B. Trophy (Hermit) on Oct 21, 2002 at 19:04 UTC
Roman.pm has saved my bacon several times. The best was when I had to replace translation lists marked a, b, c, ... with i, ii, iii, ... Roman did exactly what I needed. Trivial example: `use Roman; while (<DATA>) { chomp; last if (/^$/); my ($key, $data) = split(/\s+/, $_, 2); $key =~ s/([a-z])/roman(1+ord($1)-ord('a'))/eg; print join("\t", $key, $data), "\n"; } exit; __DATA__ a Johan b Gambolputty c von Haukopft d-y (much deleted) z of Ulm` [download] which gives: `i Johan ii Gambolputty iii von Haukopft iv-xxv (much deleted) xxvi of Ulm` [download] Not bad for so litle code and effort, eh? -- foreach(split('',"\3\3\3c>\0>c\177cc\0~c~``\0cc\177cc")) {$_=unpack('B8',$_);tr,01,\40#,;print$_,"\n";}##IYDKINT!	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Roman by stefp (Vicar) on Mar 28, 2001 at 13:25 UTC
Note that the XML name sounds very much like a roman number. And despite the XML specification claims, XML code is not very human-friendly as well. grin :) -- stefp	[reply]
Re: Roman by mirod (Canon) on Jan 06, 2004 at 18:56 UTC
I have added a `Makefile.PL` and tests to Roman.pm. Then I added support for numbers above 4000 using Unicode characters. As I could not contact the original author, I have put the new version on my web site: Roman 1.3. Now I just hope this version will make it to CPAN one day...	[reply]


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