cross platform use of set locale

[Timothy Smith]

hi there i need to set my locale so that when i output a number it's
formatted with thousands grouped. the problem i've found is there
doesn't seem to be very good cross platform support for locales, even
between unix's it's horrid.

[Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

In <mailman.746.11 11534956.1799.p ython-list@python.org >, Timothy Smith
wrote:
[color=blue]
> hi there i need to set my locale so that when i output a number it's
> formatted with thousands grouped. the problem i've found is there
> doesn't seem to be very good cross platform support for locales, even
> between unix's it's horrid.[/color]

Have you tried this::

import locale
locale
locale.setlocal e(LC_ALL, '')
locale.format(' %.2f', 1000000, True)

The `True` turns on grouping. Should work cross platform.

Ciao,
Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch

[Timothy Smith]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch wrote:
[color=blue]
>In <mailman.746.11 11534956.1799.p ython-list@python.org >, Timothy Smith
>wrote:
>
>
>[color=green]
>>hi there i need to set my locale so that when i output a number it's
>>formatted with thousands grouped. the problem i've found is there
>>doesn't seem to be very good cross platform support for locales, even
>>between unix's it's horrid.
>>
>>[/color]
>
>Have you tried this::
>
> import locale
> locale
> locale.setlocal e(LC_ALL, '')
> locale.format(' %.2f', 1000000, True)
>
>The `True` turns on grouping. Should work cross platform.
>
>Ciao,
> Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch
>
>[/color]
thats ok, but how do i get it to group thousands with a , ?
and thats would mean i'd have to run everything through a formatter
before i displayed it :/ it'd be nicer if i could just select a proper
locale

[Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

In <mailman.751.11 11537997.1799.p ython-list@python.org >, Timothy Smith
wrote:[color=blue][color=green][color=darkred]
>>> hi there i need to set my locale so that when i output a number it's
>>> formatted with thousands grouped. […][/color]
>>
>> import locale
>> locale
>> locale.setlocal e(LC_ALL, '')
>> locale.format(' %.2f', 1000000, True)
>>
>>The `True` turns on grouping. Should work cross platform.[/color]
>
> thats ok, but how do i get it to group thousands with a , ? and thats
> would mean i'd have to run everything through a formatter before i
> displayed it :/ it'd be nicer if i could just select a proper locale[/color]

It uses the locale of the system. If *your* systems locale is configured
to use ',' as separator for grouping, then it should be used by
`locale.format( )`.

Ciao,
Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch

[Serge Orlov]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

Timothy Smith wrote:[color=blue]
> thats ok, but how do i get it to group thousands with a , ?
> and thats would mean i'd have to run everything through a formatter
> before i displayed it :/ it'd be nicer if i could just select a
> proper locale[/color]

I think you're misusing locale. There is no guarantee that any specific
locale will have properties (like grouping) set to a known value.
Are you trying to format money? Then you need a special class so that
you can say:

d = Dollars(1000000 .01)
print "You have %s in your account" % d

and get

You have $1,000,000.01 in your account.

Serge.

[Timothy Smith]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

Serge Orlov wrote:
[color=blue]
>Timothy Smith wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>thats ok, but how do i get it to group thousands with a , ?
>>and thats would mean i'd have to run everything through a formatter
>>before i displayed it :/ it'd be nicer if i could just select a
>>proper locale
>>
>>[/color]
>
>I think you're misusing locale. There is no guarantee that any specific
>locale will have properties (like grouping) set to a known value.
>Are you trying to format money? Then you need a special class so that
>you can say:
>
>d = Dollars(1000000 .01)
>print "You have %s in your account" % d
>
>and get
>
>You have $1,000,000.01 in your account.
>
> Serge.
>
>
>[/color]
thats exactly what i'm trying to do, only having to do that for all my
outputs is more work then i'd like :/
why is this a misuse of locale? it's exactly what locale is meant for
isn't it?

[Serge Orlov]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

Timothy Smith wrote:[color=blue]
> Serge Orlov wrote:
>[color=green]
> >Timothy Smith wrote:
> >
> >[color=darkred]
> >>thats ok, but how do i get it to group thousands with a , ?
> >>and thats would mean i'd have to run everything through a formatter
> >>before i displayed it :/ it'd be nicer if i could just select a
> >>proper locale
> >>
> >>[/color]
> >
> >I think you're misusing locale. There is no guarantee that any
> >specific locale will have properties (like grouping) set to a known
> >value. Are you trying to format money? Then you need a special class
> >so that you can say:
> >
> >d = Dollars(1000000 .01)
> >print "You have %s in your account" % d
> >
> >and get
> >
> >You have $1,000,000.01 in your account.
> >
> > Serge.
> >
> >
> >[/color]
> thats exactly what i'm trying to do, only having to do that for all
> my outputs is more work then i'd like :/[/color]

SUS has added numeric grouping

For some numeric conversions a radix character (`decimal
point') or thousands' grouping character is used. The
actual character used depends on the LC_NUMERIC part of
the locale. The POSIX locale uses `.' as radix character,
and does not have a grouping character. Thus,
printf("%'.2f", 1234567.89);
results in `1234567.89' in the POSIX locale, in
`1234567,89' in the nl_NL locale, and in `1.234.567,89' in
the da_DK locale.

but they hasn't added monetary grouping. I don't think you'll
get monetary grouping anytime soon. Besides as far as I understood
your question, you *always* want grouping, right?

Actually I don't think a cryptic flag is better than an explicit
formatter. What do you think is more clear for a maintainer of your
code?

print "%'.2f" % amount

or

print "%s" % dollars(amount)




[color=blue]
> why is this a misuse of locale? it's exactly what locale is meant for
> isn't it?[/color]

I just reacted to your words "select a proper locale" and "how do i get
it to group thousands with a ,". It's just not a good idea to select
a locale and expect the grouping character to be "," or expect
grouping,
see nl_NL locale example above.

Serge.

[Scott David Daniels]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

Timothy Smith wrote:[color=blue]
> Serge Orlov wrote: ...[color=green]
>> d = Dollars(1000000 .01)
>> print "You have %s in your account" % d
>> and get
>> You have $1,000,000.01 in your account.[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> thats exactly what i'm trying to do, only having to do that for all my
> outputs is more work then i'd like :/
> why is this a misuse of locale? it's exactly what locale is meant for
> isn't it?[/color]

locale is so that you can write code that runs several different places
and obeys local conventions on output at each of those places. Not so
much for formatting how you like (which would be easier to write and
control yourself). Just write a function "commad" and use it.

--Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels@A cm.Org

[Damjan]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

> SUS has added numeric grouping[color=blue]
>
> For some numeric conversions a radix character (`decimal
> point') or thousands' grouping character is used. The
> actual character used depends on the LC_NUMERIC part of
> the locale. The POSIX locale uses `.' as radix character,
> and does not have a grouping character. Thus,
> printf("%'.2f", 1234567.89);
> results in `1234567.89' in the POSIX locale, in
> `1234567,89' in the nl_NL locale, and in `1.234.567,89' in
> the da_DK locale.[/color]

Hmm, this C code on my system (mk_MK locale)
#include <locale.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void) {
setlocale(LC_AL L,"");
printf("%'.2f\n ", 1234567.89);
return 0;
}
Outputs: 1 234 567,89 as expected.

But this Python program (2.3.4 [GCC 3.3.3] on linux2)
import locale
locale.setlocal e(locale.LC_ALL , "")
print locale.format(" %'.2f", 1234567.89, grouping=True)

complains about the ' in the format
ValueError: unsupported format character ''' (0x27) at index 1
without the ' it outputs: 1234567,89

--
damjan

[Timothy Smith]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

Serge Orlov wrote:
[color=blue]
>Timothy Smith wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>Serge Orlov wrote:
>>
>>
>>[color=darkred]
>>>Timothy Smith wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>thats ok, but how do i get it to group thousands with a , ?
>>>>and thats would mean i'd have to run everything through a formatter
>>>>before i displayed it :/ it'd be nicer if i could just select a
>>>>proper locale
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>I think you're misusing locale. There is no guarantee that any
>>>specific locale will have properties (like grouping) set to a known
>>>value. Are you trying to format money? Then you need a special class
>>>so that you can say:
>>>
>>>d = Dollars(1000000 .01)
>>>print "You have %s in your account" % d
>>>
>>>and get
>>>
>>>You have $1,000,000.01 in your account.
>>>
>>> Serge.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>[/color]
>>thats exactly what i'm trying to do, only having to do that for all
>>my outputs is more work then i'd like :/
>>
>>[/color]
>
>SUS has added numeric grouping
>
> For some numeric conversions a radix character (`decimal
> point') or thousands' grouping character is used. The
> actual character used depends on the LC_NUMERIC part of
> the locale. The POSIX locale uses `.' as radix character,
> and does not have a grouping character. Thus,
> printf("%'.2f", 1234567.89);
> results in `1234567.89' in the POSIX locale, in
> `1234567,89' in the nl_NL locale, and in `1.234.567,89' in
> the da_DK locale.
>
>but they hasn't added monetary grouping. I don't think you'll
>get monetary grouping anytime soon. Besides as far as I understood
>your question, you *always* want grouping, right?
>
>Actually I don't think a cryptic flag is better than an explicit
>formatter. What do you think is more clear for a maintainer of your
>code?
>
>print "%'.2f" % amount
>
>or
>
>print "%s" % dollars(amount)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>[color=green]
>>why is this a misuse of locale? it's exactly what locale is meant for
>>isn't it?
>>
>>[/color]
>
>I just reacted to your words "select a proper locale" and "how do i get
>it to group thousands with a ,". It's just not a good idea to select
>a locale and expect the grouping character to be "," or expect
>grouping,
>see nl_NL locale example above.
>
> Serge.
>
>
>[/color]
i'm pretty sure english au uses thousands grouping with ,
i've managers to make this work, however it just isn't cross platform at
all.

[Facundo Batista]

Re: cross platform use of set locale

On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 20:52:06 +1000, Timothy Smith
<timothy@open-networks.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Serge Orlov wrote:
>[color=green]
> >Are you trying to format money? Then you need a special class so that
> >you can say:[/color]
>
> thats exactly what i'm trying to do, only having to do that for all my[/color]

If you're dealing with money, two things:

a) Use Decimal
b) Format it with Raymond's recipe at

http://docs.python.org/lib/decimal-recipes.html

.. Facundo

Blog: http://www.taniquetil.com.ar/plog/
PyAr: http://pyar.decode.com.ar/