MySQL Custom Function to Turn Roman Numeral Into Arabic

Question

Ok, I need a MySQL Function that will convert a Roman Numeral String:

e.g. XXCVI

Into its Arabic numbering equivalent. Its a long story as to why I need it, I just do.

Based on a PHP function that someone posted, I created the following MySQL Function, but it seems to be running endlessly and I'm not sure why. (I might just be too tired)

Anybody have any hints as to what's wrong with my function, or have a more efficient way to convert a roman numeral string into an Arabic number?

DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS `romeToArabic`$$
CREATE DEFINER=`root`@`localhost` FUNCTION `romeToArabic`(roman_in VARCHAR(64)) RETURNS int(11)
BEGIN
  DECLARE numeral VARCHAR(2);
  DECLARE int_val INT;
  DECLARE roman VARCHAR(64);
  DECLARE res INT;
  DECLARE no_more_rows BOOLEAN;
  DECLARE num_rows INT DEFAULT 0;
  DECLARE roman_cur CURSOR FOR SELECT num, val FROM roman_numeral ORDER BY id;
  DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR NOT FOUND SET no_more_rows = TRUE;
  SET roman = UPPER(roman_in);
  SET res = 0;

  DROP TEMPORARY TABLE IF EXISTS roman_numeral;
  CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE roman_numeral (
      `id` INT(8) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
      `num` varchar(2) DEFAULT NULL,
      `val` int(8) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (id)) ENGINE=MyISAM;

  INSERT INTO roman_numeral (num, val) VALUES ('M', 1000), ('CM', 900), ('D', 500), ('CD', 400), ('C', 100), ('XC', 90), ('L', 50), ('XL', 40), ('X', 10), ('IX', 9), ('V', 5), ('IV', 4), ('I', 1);

  OPEN roman_cur;
  SELECT FOUND_ROWS() INTO num_rows;

 the_loop:
  LOOP
    FETCH  roman_cur INTO   numeral, int_val;
    IF no_more_rows THEN CLOSE roman_cur;
      LEAVE the_loop;
    END IF;

    WHILE INSTR(roman, numeral) = 1 DO
      SET res = res + int_val;
      SET roman = SUBSTRING(roman, LENGTH(numeral));
    END WHILE;

  END LOOP the_loop;
  IF res > 0 THEN
    RETURN res;
  ELSE
    RETURN -1;
  END IF;
END$$

Answer 1

Not sure why your isnt working but googling was fast and I came up with this link:

http://forge.mysql.com/tools/tool.php?id=107

CREATE FUNCTION fromRoman (inRoman varchar(15)) RETURNS integer DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN

    DECLARE numeral CHAR(7) DEFAULT 'IVXLCDM';

    DECLARE digit TINYINT;
    DECLARE previous INT DEFAULT 0;
    DECLARE current INT;
    DECLARE sum INT DEFAULT 0;

    SET inRoman = UPPER(inRoman);

    WHILE LENGTH(inRoman) > 0 DO
        SET digit := LOCATE(RIGHT(inRoman, 1), numeral) - 1;
        SET current := POW(10, FLOOR(digit / 2)) * POW(5, MOD(digit, 2));
        SET sum := sum + POW(-1, current < previous) * current;
        SET previous := current;
        SET inRoman = LEFT(inRoman, LENGTH(inRoman) - 1);
    END WHILE;

    RETURN sum;
END

Answer 2

I modified the function provided by Valentin to make it a little more robust.

It now: 1) Trims out white space before doing the roman numeral conversion. 2) Checks the incoming text for any characters not in a Roman numeral and returns -1 if this is the case.

Such that:

SELECT fromRoman('iv'), fromRoman('Mxii'), fromRoman(' iX'), 
       fromRoman('xi '), fromRoman('Hi');

Yields:

4  1012    9   11  -1

    CREATE FUNCTION fromRoman (inRoman varchar(15)) RETURNS integer DETERMINISTIC
      BEGIN

      DECLARE numeral CHAR(7) DEFAULT 'IVXLCDM';
      DECLARE digit TINYINT;
      DECLARE previous INT DEFAULT 0;
      DECLARE current INT;
      DECLARE sum INT DEFAULT 0;

  SET inRoman = UPPER(TRIM(inRoman));
  IF NOT inRoman REGEXP '[^IVXLCDM]+' THEN
    WHILE LENGTH(inRoman) > 0 DO
    SET digit := LOCATE(RIGHT(inRoman, 1), numeral) - 1;
    SET current := POW(10, FLOOR(digit / 2)) * POW(5, MOD(digit, 2));
    SET sum := sum + POW(-1, current < previous) * current;
    SET previous := current;
    SET inRoman = LEFT(inRoman, LENGTH(inRoman) - 1);
    END WHILE;

    RETURN sum;
  ELSE
    RETURN -1;
  END IF;
END

Answer 3

I know the question was perfectly answered, and maybe this should be a comment, but I came here looking for the inverse process, roman to arabic, so I had this function:

CREATE FUNCTION `toRoman`(inArabic int unsigned) RETURNS varchar(15) CHARSET latin1 DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN
    DECLARE numeral CHAR(7) DEFAULT 'IVXLCDM';

    DECLARE stringInUse CHAR(3);
    DECLARE position tinyint DEFAULT 1;
    DECLARE currentDigit tinyint;

    DECLARE returnValue VARCHAR(15) DEFAULT '';

    IF(inArabic > 3999) THEN RETURN 'overflow'; END IF;
    IF(inArabic = 0) THEN RETURN 'N'; END IF;

    WHILE position <= CEIL(LOG10(inArabic + .1)) DO
        SET currentDigit := MOD(FLOOR(inArabic / POW(10, position - 1)), 10);

        SET returnValue := CONCAT(
            CASE currentDigit
                WHEN 4 THEN CONCAT(SUBSTRING(numeral, position * 2 - 1, 1), SUBSTRING(numeral, position * 2, 1))
                WHEN 9 THEN CONCAT(SUBSTRING(numeral, position * 2 - 1, 1), SUBSTRING(numeral, position * 2 + 1, 1))
                ELSE CONCAT(
                    REPEAT(SUBSTRING(numeral, position * 2, 1), currentDigit >= 5),
                    REPEAT(SUBSTRING(numeral, position * 2 - 1, 1), MOD(currentDigit, 5))
                )
            END,
            returnValue);

        SET position := position + 1;
    END WHILE;
    RETURN returnValue;
END