Internationalization Part 6 – Formatting of Financial Symbols
As promised, we are talking about money (something rare in this financial crisis period =).
With regard to currency formatting, the following elements should be considered. Yet before that, let us give just a brief explanation. In the incoming examples we will be referring to European currencies prior to adoption of the Euro (€) so as to make it easy to introduce the wide variety of existing possibilities.
a) Currency Symbol
Currency Symbol can be a predefined element, such as the Euro (€), or a combination of symbols, like the Deutsche Mark (DM), which may be placed before or after the numerical value.
b) Negative Values
There are a number of ways to introduce negative values, namely:
• A negative sign before the currency symbol and the number:
o UK: -£127.54
o France: -127,54 F
• A negative sign before the number, but after the currency symbol:
o Denmark: kr-127,54
• A negative sign after the number and the currency symbol:
o Netherlands: 127,54 F-
• The use of parentheses:
o USA: ($127.54)
c) Decimal Separator
Most currencies use the same decimal and thousand separators in relation to local numbering, but this is not always true. In some Swiss regions, for example, a full stop is used as a decimal separator for Swiss Francs (Sfr. 127.54); however, a comma is used as a decimal separator in the rest of the country (Sfr. 127,54).
In the next post, we will talk about dates again—however, shifting the focus a little this time.
See you!
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