# Numbers, symbols and addresses

Spoken figures come out as digits, spoken email addresses come out as addresses, and units are never swapped.

Saying "fifty percent" and getting the words *fifty percent* is the sort of thing that sends people
back to the keyboard. Every cleanup style converts spoken figures into the written form you would
have typed.

## Numbers, money and units

| You say | You get |
| --- | --- |
| "three hundred" | 300 |
| "five kilograms" | 5 kg |
| "fifty percent" | 50% |
| "two to four hours" | 2-4 hours |
| "five dollars and ninety-nine cents" | $5.99 |

Dates, currency and number formatting follow the conventions of the language you are dictating in.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> A value is never altered and a unit is never swapped. "Five dollars" becomes $5, never $50. This
> matters most when you are dictating doses, amounts or deadlines — the conversion is a change of
> notation, not a change of meaning.

## Email and web addresses

Say an address the way you would read it aloud and it is written out properly:

```
john dot smith at gmail dot com   →   john.smith@gmail.com
```

## What is deliberately left alone

Numbers inside code, identifiers, version strings, phone numbers, reference numbers, street
addresses and URLs are kept exactly as you dictated them. Converting those would break them, so
they are treated as text rather than figures.

This is why dictating code or reference numbers is safe, and it is also why a phone number will not
be reformatted into something tidier than you said.

## Punctuation and symbols you can say

Punctuation is added for you, so you do not need to dictate it. But when you want a specific mark —
and especially a symbol that is awkward to describe — say it and you get it:

| Say | You get |
| --- | --- |
| "question mark", "exclamation mark" | ? ! |
| "comma", "colon", "semicolon", "dash" | , : ; - |
| "open quote", "close quote" | " " |
| "open parenthesis", "close parenthesis" | ( ) |
| "at sign", "hashtag", "ampersand", "percent sign" | @ # & % |
| a simple smiley | :) |

As with every spoken command, this only happens when you clearly mean it as one. A sentence about
*the percent sign on your keyboard* keeps its words.

## When it does not apply

The **Original** style makes no changes at all, so spoken numbers stay as words and spoken symbols
stay as their names. Everything on this page needs one of the other five
[cleanup styles](/docs/cleanup-styles/overview/).

The spoken punctuation and symbol commands are narrower still: they work in **Fix typos**,
**Clear**, **Professional** and **Friendly**, but not in **Screen match**, which is told not to add
formatting you did not dictate. Number, unit and address conversion works in all five.

## See also

- [Spoken layout commands](/docs/cleanup-styles/spoken-layout/)
- [Correcting yourself as you speak](/docs/cleanup-styles/spoken-corrections/)
- [Teach Blabb your words](/docs/cleanup-styles/saved-words/) — for names and terms, rather than figures.