Calculate Anything

Calculate Anything is a workflow for Alfred 5, that uses natural language and is able to calculate multiple things like currency, cryptocurrency, time, vat, px, em, rem, percentage, and more.

Why

There are several conversion workflows out there but I wanted a workflow that worked naturally. For example, you can open Alfred, type 100 + 9 and get a result. No need for keywords or hotkeys -- it just works. With Calculate Anything you can do the same, simply type 100 + 16%, 100 euros to usd, 100km in cm or 100 years to hours and many more.

Features

• Natural language - type 100 euros to dollars, 100 euros in usd, 100€ to $, 100eur usd, 100 euros a dolares -- it does not matter, the same result will be displayed
• Multiple languages - the workflow has support for natural language in English, Spanish and Swedish
• Currency - Up to 168 currencies
• Cryptocurrency - Support for 5,000 cryptocurrencies
• Units - 100 kilometers to meters or 100 km to m or simply 100km m
• Data Storage - 100 gigabytes in megabytes, 2 gb to mb, 400MiB to kib, 2tb gb etc.
• Percentages - 100 + 16%, 100 - 16%, 40 as a % of 50, 20 is what % of 50 etc.
• px,em,rem,pt - 12px or 12px to em or 12px pt
• Time - time +15 years, time now plus 6 hours or convert a timestamp
• VAT - value added tax calculations, we all need this
• Translations You can create your own translations to display results in your language
• Keywords Extend the natural language support so you can type 100 dolares a pesos and see the result of 100usd to mxn

Installation

Install from the workflow gallery if dependencies are not automatically installed by Alfred you can install them directly from Alfred https://www.alfredapp.com/help/kb/dependencies/ or manually install PHP with brew brew install php.

Configuration

The workflow can be configured using the new workflow configuration panel included in ALfred 5.

Currency

You can use natural language or a few characters -- that's all! For example:

- 100 us dollars in mexican pesos
- 100 canadian dollars in argentinian peso
- 100 euros to dollars
- 100 euros in dollars
- 100 euros as dollars
- 100 euros a dolares (you can also write it in your own language)
- 100 usd to mxn
- 100 usd mxn
- 100usd yen
- 100€ to $
- 100 ¥ in €
- 100¥ €
- 100eur (if no target the currency will be converted to the base currencies that you configured)

You can set a base currencies so if you type for example 120 euros it will be automatically converted to the currencies that you configured.

All these examples just work. You can add spaces between the value and the currency or not.

Currency Modifiers

When a result is displayed you can use action modifiers to copy the value in different formats:

• Return Press Return to copy the value with format, for example 2,376.54
• Command + Return Press Command + Return to copy the value without formatting, for example 2376.54
• Option + Return Press Option + Return to copy the value of a single unit, for example 23.76

Currency API Key

You need to get a free API key from https://fixer.io -- it takes less than a minute! You can configure the API key in the new workflow configuration window.

Currency Symbols

You can use currency symbols in your query. For example 100¥ to € will be converted from 100 Japanese yen to the equivalent in Euros. Here is a list of available symbols:

Please note: This list only shows symbols that can be used instead of the currency code, the workflow supports up to 168 currency codes.

Cryptocurrency

Calculate Anything can convert between 5,000 cryptocurrencies and you can define your own. Again, you can use natural language or simply pass the currency symbol.

- 2 bitcoins to dollars
- 0.1 bitcoin in dollars
- 5 bitcoins in ethereum
- 1 ethereum to ¥
- 10 ethereum in mxn
- 1eth btc
- 1btc (if no target currency is provided, the configured base currency will be used)

Cryptocurrency Modifiers

When a result is displayed you can use action modifiers to copy the value in different formats:

• Return Press Return to copy the value with format, for example 2,376.54
• Command + Return Press Command + Return to copy the value without formatting, for example 2376.54
• Option + Return Press Option + Return to copy the value of a single unit, for example 23.76

Cryptocurrency Api Key

You need to get a free API key from https://coinmarketcap.com/api/pricing/. This takes less than a minute.

Units

You can write your query using natural language or just a few characters. Either way works!

- 100 kilometers to meters
- 100 km in meters
- 100 km m
- 100km m

- 100 miles as meters
- 100miles in meters
- 100 miles to m

- 100 ounces to kilograms
- 100oz to kg
- 100oz = kg
- 100oz kg

- 10 years to months
- 10years to seconds
- 10 years hr
- 1 year to sec
- 1hr secods
- 1hr s
- 10 days hr
- 10 días a horas (use your own language)

If you don't remember the unit abbreviation, simply type the name of the unit. For example, instead of "oz" you can type "ounce" or "ounces" or even use words in your own language like "onza" or "onzas" in Spanish.

Unit Modifiers

When a result is displayed you can use action modifiers to copy the value in different formats:

• Return Press Return to copy the value with format, for example 2,376.54
• Command + Return Press Command + Return to copy the value without formatting, for example 2376.54
• Option + Return Press Option + Return to copy the value of a single unit, for example 23.76

Here is a list of all available units and their names just to make this README even longer.

Available Length Units

Available Area Units

Available Volume Units

Available Weight Units

Available Speed Units

Available Rotation Units

Available Temperature Units

Available Pressure Units

Available Time Units

Available Energy/Power Units

Data Storage

You can write your query using natural language or just a few characters. Either way works!

- 100 gigabytes in megabytes
- 100 gigas in megas
- 100 Mebibytes in Kibibytes
- 100 gb to mb
- 100gb to kb
- 100gb mb
- 400MiB in kib
- 2tb gb
- 1b kb

Please note, this workflow follows the IEC Standard (International Electrotechnical Commission) as it had been adopted by the IEEE, EU, and NIST. That means that if you type 1MB in KB you will get 1000 KB but if you type 1MiB in KiB you will get 1024 KB, you can read more about it here Multiple-byte_units

Do you prefer 1 MB = 1024 KB? No problem, you can configure it using the Configure Workflow window.

Data Storage Modifiers

When a result is displayed you can use action modifiers to copy the value in different formats:

• Return Press Return to copy the value with format, for example 2,376.54
• Command + Return Press Command + Return to copy the value without formatting, for example 2376.54

Data Storage Available Units

Percentages

You can easily calculate percentages. For example:

- 40 as a % of 50  // 40 is 80% of 50
- 20 is what % of 50 // 20 is 40% of 50
- 15% of 50 = 7.50  // 7.5 equals to 15% of 50
- 120 + 30% = 156  // 120 plus the 30% of 120
- 120 plus 30% = 156  // 120 plus the 30% of 120
- 120 - 30% = 84  // 120 minus the 30% of 120
- 120 minus 30% = 84  // 120 minus the 30% of 120
- 30 % 40 = 75%  // 30 is 75% of 40

Translations and natural language can also be used
- 120 más 30% = 156
- 120 menos 10% = 108
- 40 como % de 50 = // 40 es 80% de 50

PX, EM, REM, PT

Open Alfred, type 12px and you'll see the value converted to em, rem and pt. It's that simple. Check the examples below.

- 12px
- 12px to em
- 2 rem
- 2rem
- 2rem to pt

# use a custom px base or configure it in the workflow
- 12px in em base 17px

Time

Given its less frequently used, time conversions require the use of the keyword time.

# converts the timestamp to a regular date
- time 1577836800

# gives you the time from now plus 15 days
- time +15 days
- time now plus 3 days

# gives you the time from now plus 3 working days
- time today + 3 workdays
- time now + 3 workdays
- time + 3 workdays

# number of days until specified date
- time days until 31 december

# the start date of current year
- time start of year

# the start date of specified year
- time start of 2021

# the end date of current year
- time end of year

# the end date of specified year
- time end of 2021

# it also works in your language
- time inicio de 2020
- time fin de 2020
- time dias hasta 31 diciembre

# get information about date
- time 31 December, 2021 18:00:00
- time 31/12/2021 18:00:00
- time 12/31/2021 18:00:00

# calculate the difference between two dates
- time 25 December, 2021 - 31 December, 2021
- time 31-11-2019 - 21-11-2019
- time 11/31/2019 - 11/21/2019

Time Options

The following options are available. Simply launch Alfred, type ca and select any of the options below. View the configuration section for more info.

• Set base timezone Base time zone used to calculate dates in your time zone, search and select your zone from the list and press Return to save it.
• Add date format Configure a new date format so the date is displayed the way you want, for example j F, Y, g:i:s a (more information about available values for date)

VAT (Value Added Tax)

With this you can calculate the VAT for a given amount. Like time, VAT is also triggered with a keyword. By default, the keyword is "vat" but you can change the keyword in the workflow.

Given the following query

vat of 400 (with a 16% VAT configured, a percentage you can configure)

Calculate Anything will provide the following conversions:

• VAT of 400 = 64 (the VAT amount)
• 400 plus VAT = 464 (the Amount plus VAT)
• 400 minus VAT = 344.82 (the Amount minus VAT, useful if you have a final amount and want to know the VAT applied)

Languages

This is a list of available languages:

To create your own translation, just follow these steps:

1. Copy and paste /lang/en_EN.php and /lang/en_EN-keys.php into the same folder
2. Change the name of the pasted files to your country lang code, for example ru_RU.php and ru_RU-keys.php
3. Open and translate ru_RU.php
4. Open and modify ru_RU-keys.php. Read more about this file in the section Keywords.
5. Share it with the world -- and me! (I welcome pull requests or links to services like pastebin.com)

Keywords

Keywords are words that can be used when writing a query in natural language. For example, by default, the keyword "ounces" will be converted to "oz", "kilometers" will be converted to "km" and "dollars" will be converted to "USD". Keywords allow the user to type in a more natural way and in their own language.

'units' => [
    'hours' => 'hr',
    'hour' => 'hr',
    'kilometers' => 'km',
    'ounces' => 'oz',
    'ounce' => 'oz',
    'hakunamatata' => 'year',  // try adding this
    ...
],

If the user the types:
1 hakunamatata to months, the result will be 12

There is no limit to the keywords that you can add.

Stop Words

Stop words are words that can be used in the query when using natural language, for example 100km to cm. Here the stop word is "to".

Stop words are useful for two things:

1. Allow the user to write more naturally and in their own language (e.g 100 dolares a mxn) "a" is the stop word
2. Check if the query has to be processed

For example:

100km equals meters

If the word "equals" is not registered in the stop_words array then it won't be processed. After processing, stop words are removed so 100km to cm is understood as 100km cm.

You can modify stop words in the same keys file, for example /lang/en_EN-keys.php.

'units' => [
    'hours' => 'hr',
    'hour' => 'hr',

    'stop_words' => ['to', '=']
    ...
],

Performance

For currency, percentage and unit conversions, Calculate Anything will only process the query if it begins with a digit and has at least 3 characters. Time and VAT conversions need a keyword because they are not often used.

Deleting cache

The workflow stores information about currency and cryptocurrency rates, to clear the cache open alfred and type _caclear

Changelog

The Changelog is available here.