Oracle in a Nutshell

Appendix C. Numeric Formats

This appendix summarizes the numeric format elements that may be used in a variety of Oracle tools (e.g., SQL*Plus), in the built-in packages, and in format specifications within SQL statements.

Table C-1 lists all numeric format elements. Table C-2 contains examples illustrating the use of many of these elements

Table C-1. Numeric format elements

Formatelement	Function
9	Represents a digit in the output.
0	Marks the spot at which you want to begin displaying leading zeros.
$	Includes a leading dollar sign in the output.
,	Places a comma in the output.
.	Marks the location of the decimal point.
B	Forces zero values to be displayed as blanks.
C	Marks the place where you want the ISO currency indicator to appear. For U.S. dollars, this will be USD.
D	Marks the location of the decimal point.
MI	Adds a trailing negative sign to a number and may be used only at the end of a format string.
S	Adds a + or - sign[a] to the number and may be used at either the beginning or end of a format string.
PR	Causes negative values to be displayed within angle brackets. For example, -123.99 will be displayed as <123.99>.
G	Places a group separator (usually a comma) in the output.
L	Marks the place where you want the local currency indicator to appear. For U.S. dollars, this will be the dollar sign character.
V	Displays scaled values. The number of digits to the right of the V indicates how many places to the right the decimal point ...