Here is a simple function to do it:
function abbrNum(number, decPlaces) {
// 2 decimal places => 100, 3 => 1000, etc
decPlaces = Math.pow(10,decPlaces);
// Enumerate number abbreviations
var abbrev = [ "k", "m", "b", "t" ];
// Go through the array backwards, so we do the largest first
for (var i=abbrev.length-1; i>=0; i--) {
// Convert array index to "1000", "1000000", etc
var size = Math.pow(10,(i+1)*3);
// If the number is bigger or equal do the abbreviation
if(size <= number) {
// Here, we multiply by decPlaces, round, and then divide by decPlaces.
// This gives us nice rounding to a particular decimal place.
number = Math.round(number*decPlaces/size)/decPlaces;
// Handle special case where we round up to the next abbreviation
if((number == 1000) && (i < abbrev.length - 1)) {
number = 1;
i++;
}
// Add the letter for the abbreviation
number += abbrev[i];
// We are done... stop
break;
}
}
return number;
}
Outputs:
abbrNum(12 , 1) => 12
abbrNum(0 , 2) => 0
abbrNum(1234 , 0) => 1k
abbrNum(34567 , 2) => 34.57k
abbrNum(918395 , 1) => 918.4k
abbrNum(2134124 , 2) => 2.13m
abbrNum(47475782130 , 2) => 47.48b
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/jtbowden/SbqKL/