function convert_to_money( $s, $dec=2 ) { // converts a string / number to float $f = floatval( $s ); if( $f<0 ): // if negative $p = array( '($', ')' ); // formatting negative numbers $f = str_replace( '-', '', $f ); // removes the minus sign else: // positive no. $p = array( '$', NULL ); endif; return $p[0].number_format( $f, $dec ).$p[1]; }