Verbally format a number in Python

Question

How do pythonistas print a number as words, like the equivalent of the Common Lisp code:

[3]> (format t \"~r\" 1e25)
nine septillion, nine hundred and nin         


        

Answer 1

Here as a way to do it:

def abbreviate(x):
    abbreviations = ["", "K", "M", "B", "T", "Qd", "Qn", "Sx", "Sp", "O", "N", 
    "De", "Ud", "DD"]
    thing = "1"
    a = 0
    while len(thing) < len(str(x)) - 3:
        thing += "000"
        a += 1
    b = int(thing)
    thing = round(x / b, 2)
    return str(thing) + " " + abbreviations[a]

It does this:

>>> abbreviate(11423)
11.43 K