Very similar utilities between paying for college and retirement app

[anselmbradford]

Task

This function

consumerfinance.gov/cfgov/unprocessed/apps/retirement/js/utils/handle-string-input.js

Lines 8 to 43 in 79c15e9

	function handleStringInput( numberString ) {
	if ( typeof numberString === 'number' ) {
	return numberString;
	}
	let signMaker = 1;
	const minusPosition = numberString.indexOf( numberString.match( '-' ) );
	const digitPosition = numberString.indexOf( numberString.match( /\d/ ) );
	const dashPosition = numberString.indexOf( numberString.match( '-' ) );
	// If a '-' appears before the first digit, we assume numberString is negative
	if ( dashPosition !== -1 && minusPosition < digitPosition ) {
	signMaker = -1;
	}
	// Strip non-numeric values, maintaining periods
	numberString = numberString.replace( /[^0-9.]+/g, '' );
	/**
	* This helper function places commas in the string. It's set up to
	* be passed as a parameter to String.replace()
	* @param {string} match - The matched substring.
	* @param {number} offset - The numeric offset of the matched substring.
	* @param {string} full - The full string to be matched against.
	* @returns {string} new string to replace.
	*/
	function replaceCommas( match, offset, full ) {
	if ( offset === full.indexOf( '.' ) ) {
	return '.';
	}
	return '';
	}
	numberString = numberString.replace( /\./g, replaceCommas );
	// Get number value of string, then multiply by signMaker and return
	return Number( numberString ) * signMaker;
	}

and

consumerfinance.gov/cfgov/unprocessed/apps/paying-for-college/js/college-costs/util/number-utils.js

Lines 8 to 40 in 79c15e9

	function stringToNum( numberString ) {
	if ( typeof numberString === 'number' ) {
	return numberString;
	} else if ( typeof numberString !== 'string' ) {
	return 0;
	}
	let signMaker = 1;
	const minusPosition = numberString.indexOf( numberString.match( '-' ) );
	const digitPosition = numberString.indexOf( numberString.match( /\d/ ) );
	// If a '-' appears before the first digit, we assume numberString is negative
	if (
	numberString.indexOf( numberString.match( '-' ) ) !== -1 &&
	minusPosition < digitPosition
	) {
	signMaker = -1;
	}
	// Strip non-numeric values, maintaining periods
	numberString = numberString.replace( /[^0-9.]+/g, '' );
	// Strip any periods after the first
	function replaceCommas( match, offset, full ) {
	if ( offset === full.indexOf( '.' ) ) {
	return '.';
	}
	return '';
	}
	numberString = numberString.replace( /\./g, replaceCommas );
	// Get number value of string, then multiply by signMaker and return
	return Number( numberString ) * signMaker;
	}

Are very similar. Perhaps they could be combined into a general utility?

[anselmbradford]

Fixed in #7400