The position of codes in format masks determines where those codes will have effect. For example, if you place a dollar sign character at the far left of a format mask, ColdFusion displays a dollar sign at the very left edge of the formatted number. If you separate the dollar sign on the left edge of the format mask by at least one underscore, ColdFusion displays the dollar sign just to the left of the digits in the formatted number.
In all examples below, the numbers under the masks and the formatted output are used to clearly show the positions of characters.
Number
|
Mask
|
Result
|
4.37
| $____.__
| "$ 4.37"
|
4.37
| _$___.__
| " $4.37"
|
| 12345678
| 12345678
|
This positioning idea can also be used to show where to place the - (minus sign) for negative numbers:
Number
|
Mask
|
Result
|
-4.37
| -____.__
| "- 4.37"
|
-4.37
| _-___.__
| " -4.37"
|
| 12345678
| 12345678
|
There are four possible positions for any code character: far left, near left, near right, and far right. The left and right positions are determined by the side of the decimal point the code character is shown on. For formats that do not have a fixed number of decimal places, you can use a ^ (caret) to separate the left fields from the right.
Whether the code is placed in the far or near position is determined by the use of _ (underscore). Most code characters will have their effect determined by which of these of fields they are located in. The following example shows how to use the field to determine exactly where to place parentheses to display negative numbers:
Number
|
Mask
|
Result
|
3.21
| C(__^__)
| "( 3.21 )"
|
3.21
| C__(^__)
| " (3.21 )"
|
3.21
| C(__^)__
| "( 3.21) "
|
3.21
| C__(^)__
| " (3.21) "
|
| 12345678
| 12345678
|
|