<p class="Head1"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="1"/><help:key-word value="Format; function" tag="kw66579_1"/><help:link Id="66579">Format Function [Runtime]</help:link></p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="2"/>Converts a number to a string, and then formats it according to the format that you specify.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="9" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">Number:</span> Numeric expression that you want to convert to a formatted string.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="10" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">Format:</span> String that specifies the format code for the number. If <span class="T1">Format</span> is omitted, the Format function works like the <span class="T1">Str</span> function.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="11" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>The following list describes the codes that you can use for formatting a number:</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="12" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">0:</span> If <span class="T1">Number</span> has a digit at the position of the 0 in the format code, the digit is displayed, otherwise a zero is displayed.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="13" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>If <span class="T1">Number</span> has fewer digits than the number of zeros in the format code, (on either side of the decimal), leading or trailing zeros are displayed. If the number has more digits to the left of the decimal separator than the amount of zeros in the format code, the additional digits are displayed without formatting.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="14" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>Decimal places in the number are rounded according to the number of zeros that appear after the decimal separator in the <span class="T1">Format </span>code.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="15" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">#:</span> If <span class="T1">Number</span> contains a digit at the position of the # placeholder in the <span class="T1">Format</span> code, the digit is displayed, otherwise nothing is displayed at this position.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="16" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>This symbol works like the 0, except that leading or trailing zeroes are not displayed if there are more # characters in the format code than digits in the number. Only the relevant digits of the number are displayed.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="17" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">.:</span> The decimal placeholder determines the number of decimal places to the left and right of the decimal separator.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="18" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>If the format code contains only # placeholders to the left of this symbol, numbers less than 1 begin with a decimal separator. To always display a leading zero with fractional numbers, use 0 as a placeholder for the first digit to the left of the decimal separator.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="19" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">%:</span> Multiplies the number by 100 and inserts the percent sign (%) where the number appears in the format code.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="20" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">E- E+ e- e+ :</span> If the format code contains at least one digit placeholder (0 or #) to the right of the symbol E-, E+, e-, or e+, the number is formatted in the scientific or exponential format. The letter E or e is inserted between the number and the exponent. The number of placeholders for digits to the right of the symbol determines the number of digits in the exponent.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="21" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>If the exponent is negative, a minus sign is displayed directly before an exponent with E-, E+, e-, e+. If the exponent is positive, a plus sign is only displayed before exponents with E+ or e+.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="23" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>The thousands delimiter is displayed if the format code contains the delimiter enclosed by digit placeholders (0 or #).</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="29" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>The use of a period as a thousands and decimal separator is dependent on the regional setting. The actual character displayed as a decimal separator depends on the <text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>number format in your system settings. The examples shown here assume that the regional setting is "US".</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="24" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">- + $ ( ) space:</span> A plus (+), minus (-), dollar ($), space, or brackets entered directly in the format code is displayed as a literal character.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="25" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>To display characters other than the ones listed here, you must precede it by a backslash (\), or enclose it in quotation marks (" ").</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="26" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>\ : The backslash displays the next character in the format code.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="27" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>Characters in the format code that have a special meaning can only be displayed as literal characters if they are preceded by a backslash. The backslash itself is not displayed, unless you enter a double backslash (\\) in the format code.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="28" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>Characters that must be preceded by a backslash in the format code in order to be displayed as literal characters are date- and time-formatting characters (a, c, d, h, m, n, p, q, s, t, w, y, /, :), numeric-formatting characters (#, 0, %, E, e, comma, period), and string-formatting characters (@, &, <, >, !).</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="30" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>You can also use the following predefined number formats. Except for "General Number", all of the predefined format codes return the number as a decimal number with two decimal places.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="31" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>If you use predefined formats, the name of the format must be enclosed in quotation marks.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="33" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">General Number:</span> Numbers are displayed as entered.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="34" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">Currency:</span> Inserts a dollar sign in front of the number and encloses negative numbers in brackets.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="35" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">Fixed:</span> Displays at least one digit in front of the decimal separator.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="36" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">Standard:</span> Displays numbers with a thousands separator.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="37" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">Percent:</span> Multiplies the number by 100 and appends a percent sign to the number.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="38" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><span class="T1">Scientific:</span> Displays numbers in scientific format (for example, 1,00E+03 for 1000).</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="39" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>A format code can be divided into three sections that are separated by semicolons. The first part defines the format for positive values, the second part for negative values, and the third part for zero. If you only specify one format code, it applies to all numbers.</p>
<p class="PropText"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="46" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>REM displays for example 6,328.20 in English locale, 6.328,20 in German locale</p>
