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pythonlocalecurrency-formatting

Format numbers as currency in Python


I learn from Currency formatting in Python, use the locale module to format numbers as currency. For instance,

#! /usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import locale

value = 123456789

l = locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')     # LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8;LC_NUMERIC=fr_FR.UTF-8;LC_TIME=fr_FR.UTF-8;LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8;LC_MONETARY=fr_FR.UTF-8;LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8;LC_PAPER=fr_FR.UTF-8;LC_NAME=fr_FR.UTF-8;LC_ADDRESS=fr_FR.UTF-8;LC_TELEPHONE=fr_FR.UTF-8;LC_MEASUREMENT=fr_FR.UTF-8;LC_IDENTIFICATION=fr_FR.UTF-8
s = locale.currency(value, grouping=True)   # 123 456 789,00 €

locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'en_US.utf-8') 
s = locale.currency(value, grouping=True)   # $123,456,789.00

locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'en_US')    # WHY? locale.Error: unsupported locale setting
s = locale.currency(value, grouping=True)

I'd like to format numbers to other currency, say de_DE. I encounter the issue locale.Error: unsupported locale setting since the locale de_DE is not in the list of locale -a.

locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'de_DE')        # locale.Error: unsupported locale setting
s = locale.currency(value, grouping=True)

One solution is to add this locale to my machine. Is there a better way?


Solution

  • babel.numbers

    In [22]: from babel.numbers import format_decimal
    In [23]:  format_decimal(12345, locale='de_DE')
    Out[23]: u'12.345'
    
    In [24]: format_decimal(1.2345, locale='sv_SE')
    Out[24]: u'1,234'
    

    Or in your case format_currency:

    In [7]: from babel.numbers import format_currency
    
    In [8]: print format_currency(1099.98, 'USD', locale='en_US')
    $1,099.98
    
    In [9]: print format_currency(1099.98, 'USD', locale='es_CO')
    1.099,98 US$
    
    In [10]: print format_currency(1099.98, 'EUR', locale='de_DE')
    1.099,98 €