Converting a Number in Currency Format For Different Cultures

In this article we will learn how to display a number in its currency format with respect to a country. When we want to display a number in its respective country's currency format, we format the string in the currency format and get the currency symbol of a specific country using the "CultureInfo" class available in .Net. To use the CultureInfo class, we need to include the "System.Globalization" Namespace in our program.

The "C" format specifier converts a number to a string that represents a currency amount. The precision specifier indicates the desired number of decimal places in the result string. If the precision specifier is omitted then the default precision is used (the default value is 2).

If the value to be formatted has more than the specified or the default number of decimal places then the fractional value is rounded in the result string. If the value to the right of the number of the specified decimal places is 5 or greater then the last digit in the result string is rounded away from zero.

Here is code showing how to convert a number to its corresponding currency format for a respective country:

using System;

using System.Globalization;

 

namespace CurrencyFormatter

{

    class Program

    {

        static void Main(string[] args)

        {

            double value = 5623345.6789;

 

            //For Current Culture

            Console.WriteLine("\n--------- Displaying Currency in Current Culture ---------------\n");

 

            // By default, single letter C displays currency upto two decimal digits

            Console.WriteLine(value.ToString("C", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture));

 

            // C2 displays currency upto two digits

            Console.WriteLine(value.ToString("C2", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture));

 

            // C3 displays currency upto three digits

            Console.WriteLine(value.ToString("C3", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture));

 

            // C4 displays currency upto four digits

            Console.WriteLine(value.ToString("C4", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture));

 

            // C5 displays currency upto five digits

            Console.WriteLine(value.ToString("C5", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture));

 

            //For Japan

            Console.WriteLine("\n--------- Dispalying Currency for Japan ---------------\n");

            Console.WriteLine(value.ToString("C", CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("ja-JP")));

 

            //For Denmark

            Console.WriteLine("\n--------- Dispalying Currency for Denmark ---------------\n");

            Console.WriteLine(value.ToString("C",

                  CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("da-DK")));

 

            //For India

            Console.WriteLine("\n--------- Dispalying Currency for India ---------------\n");

            Console.WriteLine(value.ToString("C",

            CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("en-IN")));

            Console.Read();

        }

    }

}

 

The result string is affected by the formatting information of the current NumberFormatInfo object. As per MSDN, the following table lists the NumberFormatInfo properties that control the formatting of the returned string.
 

NumberFormatInfo property	Description
CurrencyPositivePattern	Defines the placement of the currency symbol for positive values.
CurrencyNegativePattern	Defines the placement of the currency symbol for negative values, and specifies whether the negative sign is represented by parentheses or the NegativeSign property.
NegativeSign	Defines the negative sign used if CurrencyNegativePattern indicates that parentheses are not used.
CurrencySymbol	Defines the currency symbol.
CurrencyDecimalDigits	Defines the default number of decimal digits in a currency value. This value can be overridden by using the precision specifier.
CurrencyDecimalSeparator	Defines the string that separates integral and decimal digits.
CurrencyGroupSeparator	Defines the string that separates groups of integral numbers.
CurrencyGroupSizes	Defines the number of integer digits that appear in a group.

Now let us see some of the important properties of the "NumberFormatInfo" object in the following sections.

How to group the numbers using NumberFormatInfo.CurrencyGroupSizes property
 
It is used to get or set the number of digits in each group to the left of the decimal in currency values. To set grouping in a number, we assign this property to an integer array having a required grouping.

For example, if the array contains {2, 4, 3} then the digits are grouped similar to $55, 555, 555, 554, 4443, 33.00". If the array contains {2, 4, 0} then the digits are grouped similar to $55555555554, 4443, 33.00". That means that the grouping of digits starts from the left corresponding to array elements. If the digits in a number are greater than the sum of the array elements then the remaining digits in the number are grouped (from left to right) as per the value of the last element in the array, provided that the element is non-zero. If the last element in the array is Zero then grouping won't take place for the remaining digits.

The following code demonstrates how to set digits grouping in a number:

using System;

using System.Globalization;

 

class NumberFormatInfoSample

{

 

    public static void Main()

    {

        // Gets a NumberFormatInfo associated with the USA culture.

        NumberFormatInfo myNumberFormatInfo = new CultureInfo("en-US", false).NumberFormat;

 

        // Displays a value with the default separator

        long myInt = 55555555554444333;

        Console.WriteLine("\nDisplays a value with the default separator ");

        Console.WriteLine(myInt.ToString("C", myNumberFormatInfo));

 

        // Displays the same value with different groupings.

        int[] mySizes1 = { 2, 4, 3 };

        int[] mySizes2 = { 2, 4, 0 };

 

        myNumberFormatInfo.CurrencyGroupSizes = mySizes1;

        Console.WriteLine("\nDisplays the same value with different group {2,4,3}  ");

        Console.WriteLine(myInt.ToString("C", myNumberFormatInfo));

        myNumberFormatInfo.CurrencyGroupSizes = mySizes2;

        Console.WriteLine("\nDisplays the same value with different group {2,4,0}  ");

        Console.WriteLine(myInt.ToString("C", myNumberFormatInfo));

        Console.Read();

    }

} 
 
It produces output as in the following:

 

The following code shows how to set a group separator symbol using the NumberFormatInfo.CurrencyGroupSeparator property:
 

using System;

using System.Globalization;

 

class NumberFormatInfoSample

{

 

    public static void Main()

    {

        // Gets a NumberFormatInfo associated with the USA culture.

        NumberFormatInfo myNumberFormatInfo = new CultureInfo("en-US", false).NumberFormat;

 

        Int64 myInt = 5674433277865454;

 

        // Displays a value with following grouping.

        int[] mySizes1 = { 2, 4, 6 };

 

        myNumberFormatInfo.CurrencyGroupSizes = mySizes1;

        Console.WriteLine("\nDisplays a value with default seperator symbol (,) : ");

        Console.WriteLine(myInt.ToString("C", myNumberFormatInfo));

 

        myNumberFormatInfo.CurrencyGroupSeparator = "_";

        Console.WriteLine("\nDisplays the same value with seperator symbol (_) : ");

        Console.WriteLine(myInt.ToString("C", myNumberFormatInfo));

 

        Console.Read();

    }

}
 
The code above produces the following output:

 

For your reference, here is a table of countries and their Culture Info Codes:

Country	Two Letter Country Code	Three Letter Country Code	Language	Two Letter Lang Code	Three Letter Lang Code	CultureInfo Code
	IR	IRN	Persian	fa	fas	fa-IR
Afghanistan	AF	AFG	Pashto	ps	pus	ps-AF
Afghanistan	AF	AFG	Dari	prs	prs	prs-AF
Albania	AL	ALB	Albanian	sq	sqi	sq-AL
Algeria	DZ	DZA	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-DZ
Argentina	AR	ARG	Spanish	es	spa	es-AR
Armenia	AM	ARM	Armenian	hy	hye	hy-AM
Australia	AU	AUS	English	en	eng	en-AU
Austria	AT	AUT	German	de	deu	de-AT
Bahrain	BH	BHR	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-BH
Bangladesh	BD	BGD	Bengali	bn	bng	bn-BD
Basque	ES	ESP	Basque	eu	eus	eu-ES
Belarus	BY	BLR	Belarusian	be	bel	be-BY
Belgium	BE	BEL	French	fr	fra	fr-BE
Belgium	BE	BEL	Dutch	nl	nld	nl-BE
Belize	BZ	BLZ	English	en	eng	en-BZ
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela	VE	VEN	Spanish	es	spa	es-VE
Bolivia	BO	BOL	Quechua	quz	qub	quz-BO
Bolivia	BO	BOL	Spanish	es	spa	es-BO
Brazil	BR	BRA	Portuguese	pt	por	pt-BR
Brunei Darussalam	BN	BRN	Malay	ms	msa	ms-BN
Bulgaria	BG	BGR	Bulgarian	bg	bul	bg-BG
Cambodia	KH	KHM	Khmer	km	khm	km-KH
Canada	CA	CAN	French	fr	fra	fr-CA
Canada	CA	CAN	English	en	eng	en-CA
Caribbean	29	29	English	en	eng	en-029
Catalan	ES	ESP	Catalan	ca	cat	ca-ES
Chile	CL	CHL	Mapudungun	arn	arn	arn-CL
Chile	CL	CHL	Spanish	es	spa	es-CL
Colombia	CO	COL	Spanish	es	spa	es-CO
Costa Rica	CR	CRI	Spanish	es	spa	es-CR
Croatia	HR	HRV	Croatian	hr	hrv	hr-HR
Cyrillic, Azerbaijan	AZ	AZE	Azeri	az	aze	az-Cyrl-AZ
Cyrillic, Bosnia and Herzegovina	BA	BIH	Serbian	sr	srn	sr-Cyrl-BA
Cyrillic, Bosnia and Herzegovina	BA	BIH	Bosnian	bs	bsc	bs-Cyrl-BA
Cyrillic, Mongolia	MN	MNG	Mongolian	mn	mon	mn-MN
Cyrillic, Montenegro	ME	MNE	Serbian	sr	srp	sr-Cyrl-ME
Cyrillic, Serbia	RS	SRB	Serbian	sr	srp	sr-Cyrl-RS
Cyrillic, Serbia and Montenegro (Former	CS	SCG	Serbian )	sr	srp	sr-Cyrl-CS
Cyrillic, Tajikistan	TJ	TAJ	Tajik	tg	tgk	tg-Cyrl-TJ
Cyrillic, Uzbekistan	UZ	UZB	Uzbek	uz	uzb	uz-Cyrl-UZ
Czech Republic	CZ	CZE	Czech	cs	ces	cs-CZ
Denmark	DK	DNK	Danish	da	dan	da-DK
Dominican Republic	DO	DOM	Spanish	es	spa	es-DO
Ecuador	EC	ECU	Quechua	quz	que	quz-EC
Ecuador	EC	ECU	Spanish	es	spa	es-EC
Egypt	EG	EGY	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-EG
El Salvador	SV	SLV	Spanish	es	spa	es-SV
Estonia	EE	EST	Estonian	et	est	et-EE
Ethiopia	ET	ETH	Amharic	am	amh	am-ET
Faroe Islands	FO	FRO	Faroese	fo	fao	fo-FO
Finland	FI	FIN	Finnish	fi	fin	fi-FI
Finland	FI	FIN	Swedish	sv	swe	sv-FI
Finland	FI	FIN	Sami, Northern	se	smg	se-FI
Finland	FI	FIN	Sami, Skolt	sms	sms	sms-FI
Finland	FI	FIN	Sami, Inari	smn	smn	smn-FI
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	MK	MKD	Macedonian	mk	mkd	mk-MK
France	FR	FRA	French	fr	fra	fr-FR
France	FR	FRA	Breton	br	bre	br-FR
France	FR	FRA	Occitan	oc	oci	oc-FR
France	FR	FRA	Corsican	co	cos	co-FR
France	FR	FRA	Alsatian	gsw	gsw	gsw-FR
Galician	ES	ESP	Galician	gl	glg	gl-ES
Georgia	GE	GEO	Georgian	ka	kat	ka-GE
Germany	DE	DEU	German	de	deu	de-DE
Germany	DE	DEU	Upper Sorbian	hsb	hsb	hsb-DE
Germany	DE	DEU	Lower Sorbian	dsb	dsb	dsb-DE
Greece	GR	GRC	Greek	el	ell	el-GR
Greenland	GL	GRL	Greenlandic	kl	kal	kl-GL
Guatemala	GT	GTM	K'iche	qut	qut	qut-GT
Guatemala	GT	GTM	Spanish	es	spa	es-GT
Honduras	HN	HND	Spanish	es	spa	es-HN
Hungary	HU	HUN	Hungarian	hu	hun	hu-HU
Iceland	IS	ISL	Icelandic	is	isl	is-IS
India	IN	IND	Hindi	hi	hin	hi-IN
India	IN	IND	Bengali	bn	bng	bn-IN
India	IN	IND	Punjabi	pa	pan	pa-IN
India	IN	IND	Gujarati	gu	guj	gu-IN
India	IN	IND	Oriya	or	ori	or-IN
India	IN	IND	Tamil	ta	tam	ta-IN
India	IN	IND	Telugu	te	tel	te-IN
India	IN	IND	Kannada	kn	kan	kn-IN
India	IN	IND	Malayalam	ml	mym	ml-IN
India	IN	IND	Assamese	as	asm	as-IN
India	IN	IND	Marathi	mr	mar	mr-IN
India	IN	IND	Sanskrit	sa	san	sa-IN
India	IN	IND	Konkani	kok	kok	kok-IN
India	IN	IND	English	en	eng	en-IN
Indonesia	ID	IDN	Indonesian	id	ind	id-ID
Iraq	IQ	IRQ	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-IQ
Ireland	IE	IRL	Irish	ga	gle	ga-IE
Ireland	IE	IRL	English	en	eng	en-IE
Islamic Republic of Pakistan	PK	PAK	Urdu	ur	urd	ur-PK
Israel	IL	ISR	Hebrew	he	heb	he-IL
Italy	IT	ITA	Italian	it	ita	it-IT
Jamaica	JM	JAM	English	en	eng	en-JM
Japan	JP	JPN	Japanese	ja	jpn	ja-JP
Jordan	JO	JOR	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-JO
Kazakhstan	KZ	KAZ	Kazakh	kk	kaz	kk-KZ
Kenya	KE	KEN	Kiswahili	sw	swa	sw-KE
Korea	KR	KOR	Korean	ko	kor	ko-KR
Kuwait	KW	KWT	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-KW
Kyrgyzstan	KG	KGZ	Kyrgyz	ky	kir	ky-KG
Lao P.D.R.	LA	LAO	Lao	lo	lao	lo-LA
Latin, Algeria	DZ	DZA	Tamazight	tzm	tzm	tzm-Latn-DZ
Latin, Azerbaijan	AZ	AZE	Azeri	az	aze	az-Latn-AZ
Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina	BA	BIH	Croatian	hr	hrb	hr-BA
Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina	BA	BIH	Bosnian	bs	bsb	bs-Latn-BA
Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina	BA	BIH	Serbian	sr	srs	sr-Latn-BA
Latin, Canada	CA	CAN	Inuktitut	iu	iku	iu-Latn-CA
Latin, Montenegro	ME	MNE	Serbian	sr	srp	sr-Latn-ME
Latin, Nigeria	NG	NGA	Hausa	ha	hau	ha-Latn-NG
Latin, Serbia	RS	SRB	Serbian	sr	srp	sr-Latn-RS
Latin, Serbia and Montenegro (Former	CS	SCG	Serbian )	sr	srp	sr-Latn-CS
Latin, Uzbekistan	UZ	UZB	Uzbek	uz	uzb	uz-Latn-UZ
Latvia	LV	LVA	Latvian	lv	lav	lv-LV
Lebanon	LB	LBN	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-LB
Libya	LY	LBY	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-LY
Liechtenstein	LI	LIE	German	de	deu	de-LI
Lithuania	LT	LTU	Lithuanian	lt	lit	lt-LT
Luxembourg	LU	LUX	Luxembourgish	lb	ltz	lb-LU
Luxembourg	LU	LUX	German	de	deu	de-LU
Luxembourg	LU	LUX	French	fr	fra	fr-LU
Malaysia	MY	MYS	Malay	ms	msa	ms-MY
Malaysia	MY	MYS	English	en	eng	en-MY
Maldives	MV	MDV	Divehi	dv	div	dv-MV
Malta	MT	MLT	Maltese	mt	mlt	mt-MT
Mexico	MX	MEX	Spanish	es	spa	es-MX
Mohawk	CA	CAN	Mohawk	moh	moh	moh-CA
Monaco	MC	MCO	French	fr	fra	fr-MC
Morocco	MA	MAR	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-MA
Nepal	NP	NPL	Nepali	ne	nep	ne-NP
Netherlands	NL	NLD	Dutch	nl	nld	nl-NL
Netherlands	NL	NLD	Frisian	fy	fry	fy-NL
New Zealand	NZ	NZL	Maori	mi	mri	mi-NZ
New Zealand	NZ	NZL	English	en	eng	en-NZ
Nicaragua	NI	NIC	Spanish	es	spa	es-NI
Nigeria	NG	NGA	Yoruba	yo	yor	yo-NG
Nigeria	NG	NGA	Igbo	ig	ibo	ig-NG
Norway	NO	NOR	Norwegian, Bokmål	nb	nob	nb-NO
Norway	NO	NOR	Sami, Northern	se	sme	se-NO
Norway	NO	NOR	Norwegian, Nynorsk	nn	nno	nn-NO
Norway	NO	NOR	Sami, Lule	smj	smj	smj-NO
Norway	NO	NOR	Sami, Southern	sma	sma	sma-NO
Oman	OM	OMN	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-OM
PRC	CN	CHN	Tibetan	bo	bod	bo-CN
PRC	CN	CHN	Yi	ii	iii	ii-CN
PRC	CN	CHN	Uyghur	ug	uig	ug-CN
Panama	PA	PAN	Spanish	es	spa	es-PA
Paraguay	PY	PRY	Spanish	es	spa	es-PY
Peru	PE	PER	Quechua	quz	qup	quz-PE
Peru	PE	PER	Spanish	es	spa	es-PE
Philippines	PH	PHL	Filipino	fil	fil	fil-PH
Poland	PL	POL	Polish	pl	pol	pl-PL
Portugal	PT	PRT	Portuguese	pt	por	pt-PT
Puerto Rico	PR	PRI	Spanish	es	spa	es-PR
Qatar	QA	QAT	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-QA
Republic of the Philippines	PH	PHL	English	en	eng	en-PH
Romania	RO	ROU	Romanian	ro	ron	ro-RO
Russia	RU	RUS	Russian	ru	rus	ru-RU
Russia	RU	RUS	Tatar	tt	tat	tt-RU
Russia	RU	RUS	Bashkir	ba	bak	ba-RU
Russia	RU	RUS	Yakut	sah	sah	sah-RU
Rwanda	RW	RWA	Kinyarwanda	rw	kin	rw-RW
Saudi Arabia	SA	SAU	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-SA
Senegal	SN	SEN	Wolof	wo	wol	wo-SN
Simplified, PRC	CN	CHN	Chinese	zh	zho	zh-CN
Simplified, Singapore	SG	SGP	Chinese	zh	zho	zh-SG
Singapore	SG	SGP	English	en	eng	en-SG
Slovakia	SK	SVK	Slovak	sk	slk	sk-SK
Slovenia	SI	SVN	Slovenian	sl	slv	sl-SI
South Africa	ZA	ZAF	Setswana	tn	tsn	tn-ZA
South Africa	ZA	ZAF	isiXhosa	xh	xho	xh-ZA
South Africa	ZA	ZAF	isiZulu	zu	zul	zu-ZA
South Africa	ZA	ZAF	Afrikaans	af	afr	af-ZA
South Africa	ZA	ZAF	Sesotho sa Leboa	nso	nso	nso-ZA
South Africa	ZA	ZAF	English	en	eng	en-ZA
Spain, International Sort	ES	ESP	Spanish	es	spa	es-ES
Sri Lanka	LK	LKA	Sinhala	si	sin	si-LK
Sweden	SE	SWE	Swedish	sv	swe	sv-SE
Sweden	SE	SWE	Sami, Northern	se	smf	se-SE
Sweden	SE	SWE	Sami, Lule	smj	smk	smj-SE
Sweden	SE	SWE	Sami, Southern	sma	smb	sma-SE
Switzerland	CH	CHE	Romansh	rm	roh	rm-CH
Switzerland	CH	CHE	German	de	deu	de-CH
Switzerland	CH	CHE	Italian	it	ita	it-CH
Switzerland	CH	CHE	French	fr	fra	fr-CH
Syllabics, Canada	CA	CAN	Inuktitut	iu	iku	iu-Cans-CA
Syria	SY	SYR	Syriac	syr	syr	syr-SY
Syria	SY	SYR	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-SY
Thailand	TH	THA	Thai	th	tha	th-TH
Traditional Mongolian, PRC	CN	CHN	Mongolian	mn	mon	mn-Mong-CN
Traditional, Hong Kong S.A.R.	HK	HKG	Chinese	zh	zho	zh-HK
Traditional, Macao S.A.R.	MO	MAC	Chinese	zh	zho	zh-MO
Traditional, Taiwan	TW	TWN	Chinese	zh	zho	zh-TW
Trinidad and Tobago	TT	TTO	English	en	eng	en-TT
Tunisia	TN	TUN	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-TN
Turkey	TR	TUR	Turkish	tr	tur	tr-TR
Turkmenistan	TM	TKM	Turkmen	tk	tuk	tk-TM
U.A.E.	AE	ARE	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-AE
Ukraine	UA	UKR	Ukrainian	uk	ukr	uk-UA
United Kingdom	GB	GBR	Welsh	cy	cym	cy-GB
United Kingdom	GB	GBR	Scottish Gaelic	gd	gla	gd-GB
United Kingdom	GB	GBR	English	en	eng	en-GB
United States	US	USA	English	en	eng	en-US
United States	US	USA	Spanish	es	spa	es-US
Uruguay	UY	URY	Spanish	es	spa	es-UY
Vietnam	VN	VNM	Vietnamese	vi	vie	vi-VN
Yemen	YE	YEM	Arabic	ar	ara	ar-YE
Zimbabwe	ZW	ZWE	English	en	eng	en-ZW