Numerals or words?

When writing about numbers that appear in a UI, duplicate them exactly as the UI displays. Otherwise, follow these guidelines.

For guidelines on writing numbers in UI text, see Numbers in the UI text style guidelines.

Spell out numbers from zero to nine. Use the numeral if the number is 10 or greater. Use a comma in a number that has four or more digits, but don't use a comma in years. See the following examples:

• Zero downtime
• 10 forwarders
• 1,045 MB
• April 22, 2019

For more information about commas and decimals, see Commas and decimals.

Be consistent

If a single-digit number appears in a sentence with another number that is 10 or greater, then use numerals for all numbers in that sentence. See the following examples:

• From the 10 menu options, select your top 5 choices.
• Modify the memory usage threshold from 8% to 15%.
• An 8 CPU, 10 GB memory machine can achieve 50-60 Mb per second throughput.

Don't start a sentence with a numeral

Avoid starting a sentence with a numeral. Instead, rewrite the sentence so the number comes later in the sentence or is prefaced by a modifier. If you can't rewrite the sentence, spell out the number at the beginning of the sentence. See the following examples:

• More than 10 add-ons are available.
• This cluster contains 11 peers.

When to use numerals

Use numerals for numbers associated with dates, decimals, fractions, measurements, percentages, ranges, time, versions, weight, and other data for comparison or analysis. It's okay to use numerals in tables or in text with limited space. Review the following table for examples of when to use numerals in text:

Use numerals for	Example	For more information
Dates	April 22, 2019	See Dates.
Decimals	3.14	See Commas and decimals.
Dimensions	1280 x 1024
Distance	4 feet
Duration of time	2 minutes	See Time.
Fractions	1/4	See Fractions.
Measurements	8 CPU	See Measurements.
Numerical user input	In the Number field, type 5.
Percentages	25%
Phone numbers	+1-888-555-1212	See Phone numbers.
Pixels	450 px, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Ranges	50-60 GB	See Ranges.
Time of day	2:30 PM-5 PM	See Time.
Versions	Splunk Enterprise 7.x	See Versions.
Weight	40 lbs