CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#formattingtext-formatting
Luk
Luk

Reputation: 5511

Use a custom thousand separator in C#

I'm trying not to use the ',' char as a thousand separator when displaying a string, but to use a space instead. I guess I need to define a custom culture, but I don't seem to get it right. Any pointers?

eg: display 1000000 as 1 000 000 instead of 1,000,000

(no, String.Replace() is not the solution I'd like to use :P)

Upvotes: 43

Views: 42293

Answers (5)

Daniel Jonsson
Daniel Jonsson

Reputation: 3931

I wanted to

  • have space as a thousand separator,
  • have up to two decimals and
  • optionally be negative.

This code solves it:

var regex = new Regex(@"(^|(?<=-))\s*");
var format = "### ### ### ### ##0.##";
decimal number = 123456789.54m;
var str = regex.Replace(number.ToString(format), ""); // str = "123 456 789.54"

Here are examples of how this behaves for various numbers:

regex.Replace(0m.ToString(format), "")
"0"
regex.Replace(123m.ToString(format), "")
"123"
regex.Replace(123456789m.ToString(format), "")
"123 456 789"
regex.Replace(123456789.1m.ToString(format), "")
"123 456 789.1"
regex.Replace(123456789.12m.ToString(format), "")
"123 456 789.12"
regex.Replace(123456789.1234m.ToString(format), "")
"123 456 789.12"
regex.Replace((-123456789.1234m).ToString(format), "")
"-123 456 789.12"
regex.Replace((-1234m).ToString(format), "")
"-1 234"
regex.Replace((-1m).ToString(format), "")
"-1"

Upvotes: 0

Invvard
Invvard

Reputation: 2057

There's a slightly simpler version of Jon Skeet one :

using System;
using System.Globalization;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
        NumberFormatInfo nfi = new NumberFormatInfo {NumberGroupSeparator = " ", NumberDecimalDigits = 0};

        Console.WriteLine(12345678.ToString("n", nfi)); // 12 345 678
    }
}

And the 'nfi' initialization could be skipped and put directly as parameter into the ToString() method.

Upvotes: 7

Gordon Bell
Gordon Bell

Reputation: 13633

Easiest way... 

num.ToString("### ### ### ### ##0.00")

Upvotes: 3

Jon Skeet
Jon Skeet

Reputation: 1503649

I suggest you find a NumberFormatInfo which most closely matches what you want (i.e. it's right apart from the thousands separator), call Clone() on it and then set the NumberGroupSeparator property. (If you're going to format the numbers using currency formats, you need to change CurrencyGroupSeparator instead/as well.) Use that as the format info for your calls to string.Format etc, and you should be fine. For example:

using System;
using System.Globalization;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
        NumberFormatInfo nfi = (NumberFormatInfo)
            CultureInfo.InvariantCulture.NumberFormat.Clone();
        nfi.NumberGroupSeparator = " ";

        Console.WriteLine(12345.ToString("n", nfi)); // 12 345.00
    }
}

Upvotes: 80

Lucero
Lucero

Reputation: 60276

Create your own NumberFormatInfo (derivative) with a different thousand separator.

Upvotes: 9

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