diff --git a/convert_units.sh b/convert_units.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1717975
--- /dev/null
+++ b/convert_units.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+convu() {
+  conv=$( units -f ~/.units.bytes $2 $3 | grep / | cut -f 2 -d " " )
+  # sometimes the conversion factor is a large number output by
+  # units in scientific notation so need to convert it to int with printf
+  echo $(( $1 / $( printf "%.f" $conv ) ))
+}