Formatted pluralize

Question

I have a case where I need to use pluralize to properly spell something. However, I need to render the html like so:

<span>1</span> thing

or,

<span>3</span> things

I could write a helper method, but I'm just making sure there isn't something in the box to do this.

While I have agonized over this sort of thing in the past myself, I have come to believe that context sensitive pluralization is over kill. Unless you are literally generating prose, I find "1 things" or "1 thing(s)" perfectly acceptable. — Chris Noe, Feb 03 '09 at 16:58

Lolindrath · Answer 1 · 2009-02-03T16:54:18.160

6

This uses the Rails class TextHelper which uses Inflector to do the pluralization if needed.

def pluralize_with_html(count, word)
  "<span>#{count}</span> #{TextHelper.pluralize(count, word)}"
end

edited Feb 03 '09 at 16:54

answered Feb 03 '09 at 16:48

Lolindrath

This certainly works based on what I asked for, but I think the helper method I posted gives more flexibility to the designer in general. Thanks! – Tim Sullivan Feb 03 '09 at 17:22
I'll have to invoke YAGNI on that comment and say to refactor if you find another use. – Lolindrath Feb 03 '09 at 23:39

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 03 '09 at 16:52

In the interim, I've created this helper method, because it looks like there isn't what I'm looking for:

def pluralize_word(count, singular, plural = nil)
  ((count == 1 || count == '1') ? singular : (plural || singular.pluralize))
end

It's essentially identical to the pluralize method, except that it removes the number from the front. This allows me to do this (haml):

%span.label= things.size.to_s
%description= pluralize_word(things.size, 'thing')

2 Answers2