6.7.4.2 Custom Currency Formats

The custom currency formats are closely related to the basic numeric formats, but they allow users to customize the output format. The SET command configures custom currency formats, using the syntax

SET CCx="string".

where x is A, B, C, D, or E, and string is no more than 16 characters long.

string must contain exactly three commas or exactly three periods (but not both), except that a single quote character may be used to “escape” a following comma, period, or single quote. If three commas are used, commas are used for grouping in output, and a period is used as the decimal point. Uses of periods reverses these roles.

The commas or periods divide string into four fields, called the negative prefix, prefix, suffix, and negative suffix, respectively. The prefix and suffix are added to output whenever space is available. The negative prefix and negative suffix are always added to a negative number when the output includes a nonzero digit.

The following syntax shows how custom currency formats could be used to reproduce basic numeric formats:

SET CCA="-,,,".  /* Same as COMMA.
SET CCB="-...".  /* Same as DOT.
SET CCC="-,$,,". /* Same as DOLLAR.
SET CCD="-,,%,". /* Like PCT, but groups with commas.

Here are some more examples of custom currency formats. The final example shows how to use a single quote to escape a delimiter:

SET CCA=",EUR,,-".   /* Euro.
SET CCB="(,USD ,,)". /* US dollar.
SET CCC="-.R$..".    /* Brazilian real.
SET CCD="-,, NIS,".  /* Israel shekel.
SET CCE="-.Rp'. ..". /* Indonesia Rupiah.

These formats would yield the following output:

The default for all the custom currency formats is ‘-,,,’, equivalent to COMMA format.