BigCommerce Handlebars Convert Value to Integer Only - bigcommerce

Question

My products in BigCommerce have a custom field called "Special" and I need to convert the value of these to integers on the category pages for the purposes of ordering (with CSS). They can't be ordered by anything else... it must be numerically by the value. Not all of the products have this custom field (these will be at the end of the ordered list). Some of them contain alphanumeric values which I need to convert to integers only. Furthermore, some contain an ampersand (example: 14&18) which I would require just the first number.
{{#filter custom_fields 'Special' property='name'}}
{{#if value}}
<!-- Add Class -->
{{/if}}
{{#else}}
<!-- Standard Class -->
{{/else}}
{{/filter}}
Given that information, how can I achieve converting the string to an integer and taking the first number when an ampersand is present? I am not interested in using JavaScript unless absolutely necessary.
Update
Is there an easier way to replace multiple characters than doing it like this...
{{#replace "A" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "a" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "B" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "b" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "C" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "c" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "D" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "d" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "E" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace "e" value}}{{else}}
{{#replace " " value}}{{else}}
{{value}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
{{/replace}}
Also, where would the split go?

Answer 1

The way filter works is to return all matching values as an array, and then loop through them. This means that if some products do not have this custom field, they will not display any code inside the filter. Hence, we need to put them in an else block on the filter itself.
{{#filter custom_fields 'Special' property='name'}}
<!-- Add Class -->
{{else}}
<!-- Standard Class -->
{{/filter}}
To get the first number in the case where there is an ampersand is easy. We use first and split helpers: {{first (split value '&')}}
Lastly, getting rid of the letters is probably the hardest part. Your best options are to use split and join, or replace. However, you would need to do this for each letter:
{{first (split (join (split (join (split (join (split (lowercase value) 'a') '') 'b') '') 'c') '') '&')}}
Note: edited previous line to tie it all into one line based on new information.