Any other characters in the formatting mask are reproduced literally in the result.

When you use the following characters within a formatting mask, the characters float; that is, multiple occurrences of the character at the left of the pattern in the mask appear as a single character as far to the right as possible in the formatted number (without removing significant digits):

-

+

(

)

$

GLS

When you use rfmtdec(), rfmtdouble(), or rfmtlong() to format MONEY values, the function uses the currency symbols that the DBMONEY environment variable specifies. If you do not set this environment variable, the numeric-formatting functions use the currency symbols that the client locale defines. The default locale, U.S. English, defines currency symbols as if you set DBMONEY to "$,.". (For a discussion of DBMONEY, see the Informix Guide to SQL: Reference). For more information on locales, see the Informix Guide to GLS Functionality.

Figure 5-2 shows sample format strings for numeric expressions. The character b represents a blank or space.

Figure 5-2

(1 of 4)

Formatting Mask	Numeric Value	Formatted Result
"#####"	0	bbbbb
"&&&&&"	0	00000
"$$$$$"	0	bbbb$
"*****"	0	*****
"<<<<<"	0	(null string)
"##,###"	12345	12,345
"##,###"	1234	b1,234
"##,###"	123	bbb123
"##,###"	12	bbbb12
"##,###"	1	bbbbb1
"##,###"	-1	bbbbb1
"##,###"	0	bbbbbb
"&&,&&&"	12345	12,345
"&&,&&&"	1234	01,234
"&&,&&&"	123	000123
"&&,&&&"	12	000012
"&&,&&&"	1	000001
"&&,&&&"	-1	000001
"&&,&&&"	0	000000
"$$,$$$"	12345	***** (overflow)
"$$,$$$"	1234	$1,234
"$$,$$$"	123	bb$123
"$$,$$$"	12	bbb$12
"$$,$$$"	1	bbbb$1
"$$,$$$"	-1	bbbb$1
"$$,$$$"	0	bbbbb$
"$$,$$$" (DBMONEY set to DM)	1234	DM1,234
"**,***"	12345	12,345
"**,***"	1234	*1,234
"**,***"	123	***123
"**,***"	12	****12
"**,***"	1	*****1
"**,***"	0	******
"##,###.##"	12345.67	12,345.67
"##,###.##"	1234.56	b1,234.56
"##,###.##"	123.45	bbb123.45
"##,###.##"	12.34	bbbb12.34
"##,###.##"	1.23	bbbbb1.23
"##,###.##"	0.12	bbbbbb.12
"##,###.##"	0.01	bbbbbb.01
"##,###.##"	-0.01	bbbbbb.01
"##,###.##"	-1	bbbbb1.00
"&&,&&&.&&"	.67	000000.67
"&&,&&&.&&"	1234.56	01,234.56
"&&,&&&.&&"	123.45	000123.45
"&&,&&&.&&"	0.01	000000.01
"$$,$$$.$$"	12345.67	********* (overflow)
"$$,$$$.$$"	1234.56	$1,234.56
"$$,$$$.##"	0.00	bbbbb$.00
"$$,$$$.##"	1234.00	$1,234.00
"$$,$$$.&&"	0.00	bbbbb$.00
"$$,$$$.&&"	1234.00	$1,234.00
"-##,###.##"	-12345.67	-12,345.67
"-##,###.##"	-123.45	-bbb123.45
"-##,###.##"	-12.34	-bbbb12.34
"--#,###.##"	-12.34	b-bbb12.34
"---,###.##"	-12.34	bb-bb12.34
"---,-##.##"	-12.34	bbbb-12.34
"---,--#.##"	-12.34	bbbb-12.34
"--#,###.##"	-1.00	b-bbbb1.00
"---,--#.##"	-1.00	bbbbb-1.00
"-##,###.##"	12345.67	b12,345.67
"-##,###.##"	1234.56	bb1,234.56
"-##,###.##"	123.45	bbbb123.45
"-##,###.##"	12.34	bbbbb12.34
"--#,###.##"	12.34	bbbbb12.34
"---,###.##"	12.34	bbbbb12.34
"---,-##.##"	12.34	bbbbb12.34
"---,---.##"	1.00	bbbbbb1.00
"---,---.--"	-.01	bbbbbb-.01
"---,---.&&"	-.01	bbbbbb-.01
"-$$$,$$$.&&"	-12345.67	-$12,345.67
"-$$$,$$$.&&"	-1234.56	-b$1,234.56
"-$$$,$$$.&&"	-123.45	-bbb$123.45
"--$$,$$$.&&"	-12345.67	-$12,345.67
"--$$,$$$.&&"	-1234.56	b-$1,234.56
"--$$,$$$.&&"	-123.45	b-bb$123.45
"--$$,$$$.&&"	-12.34	b-bbb$12.34
"--$$,$$$.&&"	-1.23	b-bbbb$1.23
"----,--$.&&"	-12345.67	-$12,345.67
"----,--$.&&"	-1234.56	b-$1,234.56
"----,--$.&&"	-123.45	bbb-$123.45
"----,--$.&&"	-12.34	bbbb-$12.34
"----,--$.&&"	-1.23	bbbbb-$1.23
"----,--$.&&"	-.12	bbbbbb-$.12
"$***,***.&&"	12345.67	$*12,345.67
"$***,***.&&"	1234.56	$**1,234.56
"$***,***.&&"	123.45	$****123.45
"$***,***.&&"	12.34	$*****12.34
"$***,***.&&"	1.23	$******1.23
"$***,***.&&"	.12	$*******.12
"($$$,$$$.&&)"	-12345.67	($12,345.67)
"($$$,$$$.&&)"	-1234.56	(b$1,234.56)
"($$$,$$$.&&)"	-123.45	(bbb$123.45)
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	-12345.67	($12,345.67)
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	-1234.56	b($1,234.56)
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	-123.45	b(bb$123.45)
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	-12.34	b(bbb$12.34)
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	-1.23	b(bbbb$1.23)
"((((,(($.&&)"	-12345.67	($12,345.67)
"((((,(($.&&)"	-1234.56	b($1,234.56)
"((((,(($.&&)"	-123.45	bbb($123.45)
"((((,(($.&&)"	-12.34	bbbb($12.34)
"((((,(($.&&)"	-1.23	bbbbb($1.23)
"((((,(($.&&)"	-.12	bbbbbb($.12)
"($$$,$$$.&&)"	12345.67	b$12,345.67
"($$$,$$$.&&)"	1234.56	bb$1,234.56
"($$$,$$$.&&)"	123.45	bbbb$123.45
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	12345.67	b$12,345.67
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	1234.56	bb$1,234.56
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	123.45	bbbb$123.45
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	12.34	bbbbb$12.34
"(($$,$$$.&&)"	1.23	bbbbbb$1.23
"((((,(($.&&)"	12345.67	b$12,345.67
"((((,(($.&&)"	1234.56	bb$1,234.56
"((((,(($.&&)"	123.45	bbbb$123.45
"((((,(($.&&)"	12.34	bbbbb$12.34
"((((,(($.&&)"	1.23	bbbbbb$1.23
"((((,(($.&&)"	.12	bbbbbbb$.12
"<<<,<<<"	12345	12,345
"<<<,<<<"	1234	1,234
"<<<,<<<"	123	123
"<<<,<<<"	12	12

Sample Format Patterns and Their Results