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ActionDataBase - Formats

Numbers

Basic number formatting specifiers:

Specifier Type Format Output for value 1.42 Output for value -12400
c Currency {0:c} $1.42 -$12,400
d Decimal (Whole number) {0:d} Error -12400
e Scientific {0:e} 1.420000e+000 -1.240000e+004
f Fixed point {0:f} 1.42 -12400.00
g General {0:g} 1.42 -12400
n Number with commas for thousands {0:n} 1.42 -12,400
r Round trippable {0:r} 1.42 Error
x Hexadecimal {0:x4} Error cf90

Custom number formatting:

Specifier Type Example Output (for input 1500.42) Note
0 Zero placeholder {0:00.0000} 1500.4200 Pads with zeroes.
# Digit placeholder {0:(#).##} (1500).42  
. Decimal point {0:0.0} 1500.4  
, Thousand separator {0:0,0} 1,500 Must be between two zeroes.
,. Number scaling {0:0,.} 2 Comma adjacent to Period scales by 1000.
% Percent {0:0%} 150042% Multiplies by 100, adds % sign.
e Exponent placeholder {0:00e+0} 15e+2 Many exponent formats available.
; Group separator see below    

The group separator is especially useful for formatting currency values which require that negative values be enclosed in parentheses. This currency formatting example at the bottom of this document makes it obvious:

Dates

Note that date formatting is especially dependant on the system’s regional settings; the example strings here are from my local locale.

Specifier   Format Type Example (Today)
d {0:d} Short date 10/12/2002
D {0:D} Long date December 10, 2002
t {0:t} Short time 10:11 PM
T {0:T} Long time 10:11:29 PM
f {0:f} Full date & time December 10, 2002 10:11 PM
F {0:F} Full date & time (long) December 10, 2002 10:11:29 PM
g {0:g} Default date & time 10/12/2002 10:11 PM
G {0:G} Default date & time (long) 10/12/2002 10:11:29 PM
M {0:M} Month day pattern December 10
r {0:r} RFC1123 date string Tue, 10 Dec 2002 22:11:29 GMT
s {0:s} Sortable date string 2002-12-10T22:11:29
u {0:u} Universal sortable, local time 2002-12-10 22:13:50Z
U {0:U} Universal sortable, GMT December 11, 2002 3:13:50 AM
Y {0:Y} Year month pattern December, 2002

Custom date formatting:

Specifier Type Example Example Output
dd Day {0:dd} 10
ddd Day name {0:ddd} Tue
dddd Full day name {0:dddd} Tuesday
f, ff, … Second fractions {0:fff} 932
gg, … Era {0:gg} A.D.
hh 2 digit hour {0:hh} 10
HH 2 digit hour, 24hr format {0:HH} 22
mm Minute 00-59 {0:mm} 38
MM Month 01-12 {0:MM} 12
MMM Month abbreviation {0:MMM} Dec
MMMM Full month name {0:MMMM} December
ss Seconds 00-59 {0:ss} 46
tt AM or PM {0:tt} PM
yy Year, 2 digits {0:yy} 02
yyyy Year {0:yyyy} 2002
zz Timezone offset, 2 digits {0:zz} -05
zzz Full timezone offset {0:zzz} -05:00
: Separator {0:hh:mm:ss} 10:43:20
/ Separator {0:dd/MM/yyyy} 10/12/2002