parsing engineering symbols

[Suresh Jeevanandam]

Hi,
	I want to convert a string to float value. The string contains 
engineering symbols.
	For example,
	
	s = '12k'

	I want some function which would return 12000
		function(s)
		=> 12000.0
	I searched the web, but could not find any function.

regards,
Suresh