Using number_format to add thousand separator - php

Question

I'm trying to quite simply take the number that is inside the variable $output and turn it into a number with a thousand separator. The number it current outputs is 49995 but I want it to appear as 49,995.
Having some trouble. Help?
function twitter_followers($user = 'mytwitterusername'){
// Build Twitter api url
$apiurl = "http://api.twitter.com/1/users/show.json?screen_name={$user}";
//cache request
$transient_key = $user . "_twitter_followers";
// If cached (transient) data are used, output an HTML
// comment indicating such
$cached = get_transient( $transient_key );
if ( false !== $cached ) {
return $cached;
}
// Request the API data, using the constructed URL
$remote = wp_remote_get( esc_url( $apiurl ) );
// If the API data request results in an error, return
// an appropriate comment
if ( is_wp_error( $remote ) ) {
return '<p>Twitter unaviable</p>';
}
// If the API returns a server error in response, output
// an error message indicating the server response.
if ( '200' != $remote['response']['code'] ) {
return '<p>Twitter responded with an HTTP status code of '. esc_html( $remote['response']['code']) . '</p>';
}
// If the API returns a valid response, the data will be
// json-encoded; so decode it.
$data = json_decode( $remote['body'] );
$output = $data->followers_count;
$followers = number_format($output,2,'.',',');
set_transient( $transient_key, $output, 600 );
return $followers;
}

Answer 1

I've tested the following code and it works:
$output = 49995;
$followers = number_format( $output , 0 , '.' , ',' );
echo $followers;
Not sure why your code is not working. Also make sure to set the second parameter to 0, unless you want decimal points. Perhaps the value of $output initially is a string and you need to cast it as an integer before putting it through number_format()?

Answer 2

Your number_format seems to be right. Try an
$output = intval($data->followers_count);
before calling it, maybe there is an issue after decoding the value.