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How to get the format string for a specified currency and culture

I have SSRS reports that display currency amounts. They need to be both culture aware and currency aware. Some reports show different currencies in the same table. I have no trouble with culture awareness. It's currency formatting that's the trouble. Importantly, when I export to Excel, the values in these currency fields must be sortable as numbers. That means the cell values must be numbers, so I cannot use the normal .ToString("C", culture) functions that so many other posts end up with. I need to keep the numeric value in the field and to apply .NET's format string to the number (e.g. "'$'#,0.00;('$'#,0.00)"). This way, Excel will treat the value as a number for sorting purposes but display the correctly formatted currency.
Is it possible to use code to modify a NumberFormatInfo instance and then somehow return the string value of the formatter, such as "'€'#,0.00;('€'#,0.00)"?
var numberFormat = new CultureInfo("en-US").NumberFormat;
numberFormat.CurrencySymbol = "€";
return numberFormat.GetCurrencyFormatString(); //this is an imaginary function that I need to return "'€'#,0.00;('€'#,0.00)"
I have tried programmatically setting the currency symbol based on the currency information of each row. As far as I know, SSRS does not allow me to use an Expression to set the currency symbol. It only offers a dropdown list.
My users don't like it when I show the currency code (e.g. USD, CAD), so I'm stuck with showing the symbol (e.g. $, CA$).

As far as I can tell, you'll need to manually construct this format string using the CultureInfo class.
Using the docs on CurrencyPositivePattern and CurrencyNegativePattern (see here and here), I've put together something that works but might need some tweaking:
string GetCurrencyFormat(CultureInfo culture)
{
//we'll use string.Format later to replace {0} with the currency symbol
//and {1} with the number format
string[] negativePatternStrings = { "({0}{1})", "-{0}{1}", "{0}-{1}", "{0}{1}-", "({1}{0})",
"-{1}{0}", "{1}-{0}", "{1}{0}-", "-{1} {0}", "-{0} {1}",
"{1} {0}-", "{0} {1}-", "{0} -{1}", "{1}- {0}", "({0} {1})",
"({1} {0})" };
string[] positivePatternStrings = { "{0}{1}", "{1}{0}", "{0} {1}", "{1}{0}" };
var numberFormat = culture.NumberFormat;
//Generate 0's to fill in the format after the decimal place
var decimalPlaces = new string('0', numberFormat.CurrencyDecimalDigits);
//concatenate the full number format, e.g. #,0.00
var fullDigitFormat = $"#{numberFormat.CurrencyGroupSeparator}0{numberFormat.CurrencyDecimalSeparator}{decimalPlaces}";
//use string.Format on the patterns to get the positive and
//negative formats
var positiveFormat = string.Format(positivePatternStrings[numberFormat.CurrencyPositivePattern],
numberFormat.CurrencySymbol, fullDigitFormat);
var negativeFormat = string.Format(negativePatternStrings[numberFormat.CurrencyNegativePattern],
numberFormat.CurrencySymbol, fullDigitFormat);
//finally, return the full format
return $"{positiveFormat};{negativeFormat}";
}
This returns $#,0.00;($#,0.00) for en-US, £#,0.00;-£#,0.00 for en-GB, for example.

Make TryParse compatible with comma or dot decimal separator

The problem:
Let's assume you are using a dot "." as a decimal separator in your regional setting and have coded a string with a comma.
string str = "2,5";
What happens when you decimal.TryParse(str, out somevariable); it?
somevariable will assume 0.
What can you do to solve it?
1-
You can
decimal.TryParse(str, NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out somevariable);
And it will return 25, and not 2.5 which is wrong.
2-
You can
decimal.TryParse(str.Replace(",","."), out num);
And it will return the proper value, BUT, if the user uses "," as a decimal separator it will not work.
Possible solution that I can't make it work:
Get the user decimal separator in regional settings:
char sepdec = Convert.ToChar(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator);
And make somehow the replace from ",",sepdec , that way it would stay a comma if its a comma, and replace by an actual dot if the user uses dots.
Hints?
Edit: Many users posted useful information, lately, using the arguments NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("pt-PT") on a tryParse wouldn't work if your separator is set to "," So it pretty much doesnt fullfill the premise of making a tryparse "universal".
I'll work around this, if anyone has more hints you'r welcome

I know the thread is a little bit older, but I try to provide an answer.
I use regular expression to determine the used number format in the string.
The regex also matches numbers without decimal separators ("12345").
var numberString = "1,234.56"; // en
// var numberString = "1.234,56"; // de
var cultureInfo = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
// if the first regex matches, the number string is in us culture
if (Regex.IsMatch(numberString, #"^(:?[\d,]+\.)*\d+$"))
{
cultureInfo = new CultureInfo("en-US");
}
// if the second regex matches, the number string is in de culture
else if (Regex.IsMatch(numberString, #"^(:?[\d.]+,)*\d+$"))
{
cultureInfo = new CultureInfo("de-DE");
}
NumberStyles styles = NumberStyles.Number;
bool isDouble = double.TryParse(numberString, styles, cultureInfo, out number);
HTH
Thomas

I just want to say that HTH Thomas solution worked really well in my project, except for when trying to parse negative decimal numbers with commas. One solution to this, which is probably not optimized because I don't fully understand the regex Ismatch code, but that works is adding the possibility of finding a "-" before the number in the ifs statements, like this:
var cultureInfo = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
if (Regex.IsMatch(equation.inputFieldsTexts[i], #"^(:?[\d,]+\.)*\d+$") || Regex.IsMatch(equation.inputFieldsTexts[i], #"^(:?[-\d,]+\.)*\d+$"))
{
cultureInfo = new CultureInfo("en-US");
}
// if the second regex matches, the number string is in DE culture
if (Regex.IsMatch(equation.inputFieldsTexts[i], #"^(:?[\d.]+,)*\d+$") || Regex.IsMatch(equation.inputFieldsTexts[i], #"^(:?[-\d.]+,)*\d+$"))
{
cultureInfo = new CultureInfo("de-DE");
}

The solution I use is to simply show the user what the parsed value is.
I have a custom TextBox control which verifies the input when the control loses focus and such. If the control expects a floating point value (which is a property), then it will try to parse the value entered. If the TryParse succeeds, I display the out value in the control's text.
This way, when a user enters 12.3 the value might change to 123 because in the current culture 12,3 is expected. It's then up to them to decide to correct this.

How about this method:
clean the string from anything else than numbers, dot, comma and negative sign
take the last index of dot or comma
split the clean string and remove all thousands separators from the first part
convert both parts to integer
change the sign of the second part if necessary
add the first part with the second part divided by decimal places
public static bool TryParseDoubleUniversal(this string s, out double result) {
result = 0.0;
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(s)) return false;
var clean = new string(s.Where(x => char.IsDigit(x) || x == '.' || x == ',' || x == '-').ToArray());
var iOfSep = clean.LastIndexOfAny(new[] { ',', '.' });
var partA = clean.Substring(0, iOfSep).Replace(",", string.Empty).Replace(".", string.Empty);
var partB = clean.Substring(iOfSep + 1);
if (!int.TryParse(partA, out var intA)) return false;
if (!int.TryParse(partB, out var intB)) return false;
if (intA < 0) intB *= -1;
var dp = double.Parse("1".PadRight(partB.Length + 1, '0'));
result = intA + intB / dp;
return true;
}

The question is old but since it was my first hit on Google. And the approach in How to change symbol for decimal point in double.ToString()? seems to be a valid solution you can use the NumberFormatInfo to set the decimal separator like this:
string value = "3,2";
NumberFormatInfo nfi = new NumberFormatInfo();
nfi.NumberDecimalSeparator = ",";
decimal.TryParse(value, NumberStyles.Any, nfi, out decimal dec);

I found a solution, I'm a beginner on this regional and comma-dots theme so if you have comments to improve the understanding of this please be welcome.
We start of by getting what decimal separator the user has set in his regional options outside before the Form{InitializeComponent();} (I want a universal variable that will allow me to correct the code)
char sepdec = Convert.ToChar(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator);
In the tryParse, to get it to behave universally we will read the dots and commas in the string, and turn them into the decimal separator we defined as sepdec
decimal.TryParse(str.Replace(",",sepdec.ToString()).Replace(".",sepdec.ToString()), out somevariable);
I hope this helps, please comment improvement suggestions!

In Android Xamarin, I ran into the same issue several times. Some solutions worked until the Android got upgraded into a new version, then the problem came out again. So I came with an universal solution, which works fine. I read the numeric input as text, then parse it into decimal with a custom parser.
The custom parser is returning 0 when parsing into decimal is not possible. It does allow input text containing decimal number with either comma or dot, with no group separators:
public static decimal ParseTextToDecimal(string decimalText)
{
if (decimalText == String.Empty) return 0;
string temp = decimalText.Replace(',', '.');
var decText = temp.Split('.');
if (!Int32.TryParse(decText[0], out int integerPart)) return 0;
if (decText.Length == 1) return integerPart;
if (decText.Length == 2)
{
if (!Int32.TryParse(decText[1], out int decimalPart)) return 0;
decimal powerOfTen = 10m;
for (int i = 1; i < decText[1].Length; i++) powerOfTen *= 10;
return integerPart + decimalPart / powerOfTen;
}
return 0; // there were two or more decimal separators, which is a clear invalid input
}

Strange output when converting string to double

I already searched for my problem but I wasn't successfully and that's the reason I'm here.
All I want to do is reading a string like "3.14" and convert it to double.
Enough said... here is my code:
using System;
namespace GlazerCalcApplication
{
class MainClass
{
public static void Main (string[] args)
{
string heightString;
double height;
heightString = Console.ReadLine();
height = Convert.ToDouble(heightString);
Console.WriteLine(height);
}
}
}
Output:
3.14
314
Press any key to continue...
Why is my double value not 3.14?
Instead of Convert.ToDouble() I also tried it with double.Parse() but I received the same behaviour. Reading strings like 3,14 is no problem.
Maybe I should also mention that I use MonoDevelop and a linux OS.
Thanks in advance.

Try specifying the culture as Invariant:
height = Convert.ToDouble(heightString,CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
It seems the decimal seperator of your culture is comma instead of dot therefore dot is truncated after conversion.

Convert.ToDouble(string) uses Double.Parse(string, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture) method explicitly.
Here how it's implemented;
public static double ToDouble(String value) {
if (value == null)
return 0;
return Double.Parse(value, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
}
It is likely your CurrentCulture's NumberFormatInfo.NumberDecimalSeparator property is not . (dot). That's why you can't parse a string with . as a date seperator.
Example in LINQPad;
CultureInfo c = new CultureInfo("de-DE");
c.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator.Dump(); // Prints ,
As a solution, you can create a new reference of your CurrentCulture and assing it's NumberDecimalSeparator property to . like;
double height;
CultureInfo c = new CultureInfo("de-DE");
c.NumberFormat.NumberDecimalSeparator = ".";
height = Convert.ToDouble("3.14", c);

Judging by the result I take it you are in a culture zone where comma is the normal decimal separator.
Also, I take it that you want both dot and comma to be used for decimal separation.
If not, the below is not the proper solution.
The fastest solution for using both would be
height = Convert.ToDouble(heightString.Replace('.', ',');
This would mean that both dots and comma's are used as comma and thus parsed as a decimal separator.
If you only want to use a dot as separator, you can use invariantculture or a specific numberformatinfo. Invariant culture is already shown in the other posts. numberformat info example:
var nfi = new NumberFormatInfo { NumberDecimalSeparator = "." };
height = double.Parse(heightString,nfi);
For completeness, the example below shows both using numberformatinfo for setting the dot as decimal separator, as well as replacing comma with dots, so both characters are used for decimals
var nfi = new NumberFormatInfo { NumberDecimalSeparator = "." };
height = double.Parse(heightString.Replace(',', '.'),nfi);

Different .Net cultures (countries) have different decimal separators.
If you expect input values to be in some specific format - either use some particular culture or InvariantCulture. Also consider using double.Parse as it geve more flexibility on parsing the values than generic Convert.ToDouble.
var d = double.Parse(heightString, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
If you expect user to enter value in local format - your code is fine, but either your expectation of "local format" is wrong, or "current culture" set incorrectly.

Input string was not in a correct format. calling TimeSpan.FromSeconds(Convert.ToDouble(time)) in IE on Changing Culture

Hi i m using given below method to convert in to string its working fine chrome but in IE its through exception Input string was not in a correct format. at this line
s = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(Convert.ToDouble(time));
these are values i m passing to it
600, 298.8, 65505, 69, 70, 20.5, 20.5, 20.5, 20.5, 1840.4, 682, 1040.3
in chrome its working but in IE it gives exception on second value when i change the culture to french language please help me out what is the problem
public static String ConvertTimeToString(this string time)
{
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(time))
{
return time;
}
TimeSpan s;
if (time.IndexOf(':') >= 0)
{
s = TimeSpan.Parse(time);
}
else
{
s = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(Convert.ToDouble(time));
}
return s.ConvertTimeToString();
}

The failure is probably in the call Convert.ToDouble. Your code probably executes in a CultureInfo that has ',' as decimal separator, but your values use '.'. I would advice you to use Double.TryParse using a CultureInfo that has '.' as decimal separator instead:
Double value;
if (Double.TryParse(time, NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"), out value))
{
s = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(value);
}

You need to specify an IFormatProvider when you use Convert.ToDouble(time):
Convert.ToDouble(time, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
Specifying CulturInfo.InvariantCulture specifies a culture that expect floating points written as 1.234 (note the period). The source of your problem may be that you time is in the format 1,234 (note the comma). Or maybe it is the reverse: You don't specify an IFormatProvider and the current culture of you ASP.NET process uses comma as a decimal separator, but the string provided uses period?
If the decimal point used isn't consistent you should either fix it at the source (not sure what the source is here) or as a last resort you can replace comma by period:
Convert.ToDouble(time.Replace(",", ".") , CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
However, trying to parse a string and not knowing the what to expect is not the best thing to do.

Format a double value like currency but without the currency sign (C#)

I feed a textbox a string value showing me a balance that need to be formatted like this:
###,###,###,##0.00
I could use the value.ToString("c"), but this would put the currency sign in front of it.
Any idea how I would manipulate the string before feeding the textbox to achieve the above formatting?
I tried this, without success:
String.Format("###,###,###,##0.00", currentBalance);
Many Thanks,

If the currency formatting gives you exactly what you want, clone a NumberFormatInfo with and set the CurrencySymbol property to "". You should check that it handles negative numbers in the way that you want as well, of course.
For example:
using System;
using System.Globalization;
class Test
{
static void Main()
{
NumberFormatInfo nfi = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat;
nfi = (NumberFormatInfo) nfi.Clone();
Console.WriteLine(string.Format(nfi, "{0:c}", 123.45m));
nfi.CurrencySymbol = "";
Console.WriteLine(string.Format(nfi, "{0:c}", 123.45m));
}
}
The other option is to use a custom numeric format string of course - it depends whether you really want to mirror exactly how a currency would look, just without the symbol, or control the exact positioning of digits.

string forDisplay = currentBalance.ToString("N2");

Have you tried:
currentBalance.ToString("#,##0.00");
This is the long-hand equivalent of:
currentBalance.ToString("N2");

string result=string.Format("{0:N2}", value); //For result like ### ### ##.##

You can do this with the group separator and the section separator, like this:
currentBalance.ToString("#,0.00;(#,0.00)");
This does not account for culture variances like the answer from #JonSkeet would, but this does mimic decimal place, rounding, thousands separation, and negative number handling that en-US culture currency format produces using a single custom format string.
.NET Fiddle Demo

var result = currentBalance.ToString("C").Replace(System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.NumberFormat.CurrencySymbol, "");

CultureInfo cultureInfo = new CultureInfo("en-US");
cultureInfo.NumberFormat.CurrencySymbol = "Rs.";
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = cultureInfo;
decimal devimalValue = 3.45M;
this.Text = devimalValue.ToString("C2"); //Rs.3.45

This may be overkill, but it rounds, formats...
#helper TwoDecimalPlaces(decimal? val)
{
decimal x = 0;
decimal y = 0;
string clas = "text-danger";
if (val.HasValue)
{
x = (decimal)val;
if (val > 0)
{
clas = "";
}
}
y = System.Math.Round(x, 2);
IFormatProvider formatProvider = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo(string.Empty);
<span class="#clas">#string.Format("{0:N2}", y)</span>
}

This simple solution works for me with US currency.
If not needing international currency support use this and replace the $ with the currency symbol(s) to be removed:
// for USD
string result = currentBalance.ToString("C").Replace("$", "")
or
// for EUR
string result = currentBalance.ToString("C").Replace("€", "")