Custom number formatting examples

The following table lists examples of custom number formats. It includes the formatting symbols, report data, and how that data is displayed using the formatting. For examples of applying these custom number formats to the Big Decimal data type, refer to the Project Design Help.

If you encounter an issue with displaying custom number formats in graphs, add a semicolon to the end of the custom number format. See KB486128 for more information.

Format	Cell Data	Display
#.##	123.456	123.46
	0.2	.2
#.0#	123.456	123.46
	123	123.0
#,##0"CR";#,##0"	1234.567	1,235CR
	0	0
#.	-123.45	123DR
	10000	10
???.???	123.45, 45.90, 345.809	With aligned decimals
"Sales="0.0	123.45	Sales=123.5
	-123.45	-Sales=123.5
"X="0.0;"x="-0.0	-12.34	x=12.3
$* #,##0.00;$* -#,##0.00	1234.567	$ 1,234.57
	-12.34	$ -12.34
000-00-0000	123456789	123-45-6789
"Cust. No. " 0000	1234	Cust. No. 1234
;;:	Anything	(Not Displayed)
"The End"	123.45	The End
	-123.45	-The End
	text	text
ALT+0163 #.##	250.45	£ 250.45
#.##%	.08	8%
	2.8	280%
m-d-yy	2/3/04	2-3-23
mm dd,	2/3/03	02 03 23
mmm d, yy	2/3/03	Feb 3, 23
mmmm d,	2/3/03	February 3, 2023
d mmmm	2/3/03	3 February 2023
hh"h" mm"m"	1:32 AM	01h 32m
h.mm AM/PM	14:56	2:56 PM
hhmm "hours"	3:15	0315 hours
#?/?	1.25	1 1/4
#?/8	1.25	1 2/8
0*-	250.45	250.45----
*-0	250.45	----250.45
0.00E+00	10000	1.00E+04
##0.0E+0	10000	10.0E+03
##0.0E-0	10000	100.0E-6

Be careful to use the placeholders # and 0 correctly. The # placeholder is used to indicate optional preceding or following zeros, while 0 is used for mandatory zeros. For example, 0.0# is correct, ensuring that a zero is placed in the tenths place. The similar format 0.#0 is incorrect because a zero is mandatory if a hundredth is specified as in .01.