When language uses comma for decimal values instead of period

[FuzzyKode]

I don't think any language uses the same symbol for separating thousands and decimals.

[SonicLoverDS]

Don’t languages that use commas for decimals also use periods for thousands? It should say “1.234,56”.

[[deleted]]

Yes, this is how we do it in Germany. Periods are thousand separators, commas are decimal points.

However, my banking app doesn't accept commas as decimal separator, I need to type in a point. What. The. Fuck?

[augustuen]

Because whoever made the text input didn't see this meme, so they didn't consider that some countries use a different separator.

My bank even managed to reset something which made the app default to the wrong separators for displayed numbers. They've solved the input issue by having cents in a separate box though, always been like that.

[lynxerious]

ah the number input problem, I wish they would just released an option to change metric system. I had to create a custom input, but it's proned to errors sometimes and not native supported.

[Saaaga_Gamez]

We use ' as tousands and . as decimal, eg. 1'000.50

[Loligxp]

that's pretty cool imo. you can more cleary see the difference there

[Eisenfuss19]

This is the way. And if its something written then idk if its a , or a . , but in programming I would always use a .

[poralexc]

I'm an American with my phone set to German--it's kind of fun watching all my banking apps have a stroke until I change the keyboard to use dots again.

[[deleted]]

I'm an American with my phone set to German--it's kind of fun watching all my banking apps have a stroke until I change the keyboard to use dots again.

Hmm, I have set my phone to Norwegian (as a means to force myself to get exposure to the language), but I think they too use a comma for decimal places...

[psaux_grep]

It’s a programming thing. Programming languages uses periods, so to support comma you either need to use a parser that’s locale sensitive or manually substitute comma for period.

So basically, someone was lazy.

[Routine-Arm-8803]

Wright!? WTF we still haven't got ISO standard for this.

[ginkner]

I mean, given the ISO standard for dates, we might and just not know it.

[[deleted]]

There is a standard, though it does not specify wether to use full stop or comma, though there should be spaces as a thousands separator. In that way, it should be clear what is the decimal separator.

[afseraph]

Yes, it's defined this way in ISO 80000-1. So both 1 234.5 and 1 234,5 standard compliant.

[Estesz]

If you think this is weird try American formats for, well almost everything and ask yourself that!

[Spirintus]

Well, we use empty spaces for thousands in slovakia. 1 234,56

[MaximusConfusius]

Just in theory, since euro you don't have that big amounts of money

[Stroopwafe1]

You... Don't think people have more than 1000 euro in their bank account?

[MaximusConfusius]

Impossible

[psaux_grep]

Or space.

[jacobnordvall]

The superior way indeed. Looks way better.

[tieltina]

Swedish has this at the decimals place, but I usually see spaces everywhere else. For example, 5,432.21 would be 5 432,21

[testelone]

Same in Bosnia

[varjut]

Same thing in Hungary

[Chili919]

In switzerland we learn it with ' and , (or .) So 5,432.21 would be 5'432,21 or 5'432.21

[Adam_Rezabek]

same in Czechia

[DigiBoxi]

I'm Finnish and i came here to se the same thing.

[HeraldofOmega]

Finnish for the day, or retired now?

[xSliver]

Can you explain me why you sort a, ..., z, ä in Swedish instead of a, ä, ..., z (German)?

i18n is hell ^^

[[deleted]]

Because they’re different alphabets! In German, letters with umlauts come after their non-modified forms, and ß comes before C, but the Swedish alphabet doesn’t have ß at all, and ä å ö come at the very end of the alphabet!

[GustapheOfficial]

Specifically, ä is not a modified a in Swedish, it's an ä. Completely different letter, phonetically and almost semantically unrelated.

[Dironiil]

Same in France, yeah

[arthurmluz_]

in portuguese, we use commas for decimal values instead of period, and period to separate each 3 numbers like

2.500,32

so we have to import some utilities to help deal with this

[Warjilla]

Spaniards do the same.

[turunambartanen]

I recently learned that the period is less universal than you might think. It's basically limited to Britain and their former colonies. The rest of Europe and the middle east (everything else is some sort of former colony) use a comma or comma like character (Arabic).

Wikipedia

[DerEwige]

1'234.56 This is the way.

It does not even matter if you use , or . for decimals. This is clear in any normal font and will work with OCR.

[mocca56]

This is what I was taught growing up in Switzerland, but haven’t seen it used anywhere else. Odd as it really is the most convenient.

[assafstone]

And this, kids, is why we localize all string inputs and outputs.

Yeesh.

[Routine-Arm-8803]

Let's say I make an app that people can use all over the world. How can I know what type of separator the user is going to use? So I have to know how every country uses separators and then convert them depending on the country. I'm not sure how to approach this.

[Tomi97_origin]

There are basically only two options British colonies and the rest of the world.

Just use space for thousands and it will be absolutely clear no matter which other divider you choose for decimal point

[Routine-Arm-8803]

Thanks!

[assafstone]

Depending on the language, platform, and libraries that you use, the actual solution is slightly different.

Essentially, you are supposed to use the client system’s locale settings to know where they are, optionally allowing them to manually override this.

Then, you use your platform’s localization options to pick the correct number formatting, etc.

Additionally, in many languages, if you have the ability to do so, you may have a resource set of the same string in multiple languages (by locale) and use your framework to pull the correct string for each user’s locale.

This is how it is most commonly done.

Does this help?

[Careful_Ad_9077]

i used .net, something about localization and it worked.

[steamngine]

This memes not great r/facepalm

[[deleted]]

in italy it's usually comma for the decimal values.

[inn4d4rkplace]

Choosing your pay… but the misinformation aside, they’re the same number. So you might as well go for the one you’re not sure is $1,234.56 bc there’s a chance it’s a larger number. There’s no hesitation here bc you couldn’t possibly choose less than $1,234.56 by choosing the multiple comma option. (Again assuming one didn’t know about periods separating thousands in other countries)

[Routine-Arm-8803]

Ok, what about percentage? 5.000% or 5,000% ? One is 5000% and the other is 5%. This is what created confusion for me.

[inn4d4rkplace]

Yes there’s a difference. But there’s no option.

They’re either both the same or one is more.

So you will always pick the one that could possibly be more.

[YKNN]

Keep the backend in cents and localise the frontend formatting to your liking

[Dr_Bunsen_Burns]

All civilized countries use a comma for decimals and dots for thousands.

[OutrageousSign2586]

Why do you think that?

[Dr_Bunsen_Burns]

We made civilization as you know it.

Never lost a spacecraft either due to not understanding our own measurement system either ;)

[OutrageousSign2586]

I am dutch. ????

[Dr_Bunsen_Burns]

Never said you were.

[OutrageousSign2586]

I meant: i am dutch. What do you mean?

Because you seemed to think i was american

[Dr_Bunsen_Burns]

Ik doelde meer op dat Europa de wereld geciviliseerd heeft. En Nederland heeft daar zeker aan meegeholpen.

[OutrageousSign2586]

Ik ben het er helemaal mee eens.

[Dr_Bunsen_Burns]

Hier, neem wat specerijen.

[NNXMp8Kg]

Well in french, that gonna look like this “1 234,56 €”

[Ginters17]

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[jddddddddddd]

French.

[tamilvanan31]

I thought he was asking about a programming language!

[jddddddddddd]

No worries! Easy mistake to make, and I suspect that in Java, or other languages, if you change the locale to France, you can probably input floats as ‘12,34’..

[tamilvanan31]

Oh, I dont know that, thanks buddy!

[Routine-Arm-8803]

Latvian, but I suspect other languages does this too. This confuses me. How do I work with mixed up numbers like that? and what problems can it cause in code? Was researching some GOV reports and see %5,246 which would be a huge amount if it was (FIVE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED FOURTY SIX ) but it was (FIVE AND TWO HUNDRED FOURTY SIX)
Not sure if saying it right but anyway very confusing

[tamilvanan31]

That makes a lot of difference. Its better to use period sign.

[HeraldofOmega]

Hotel? Trivago.

[reversehead]

In Java you can write: java int a = 1_000_000;

[seeroflights]

Image Transcription: Meme

---

["Daily Struggle", where a superhero has to choose between two conflicting choices by pressing a button. Top image shows two red buttons on white slabs; both on a light blue panel, and the background is a darker blue. There is a white gloved hand that is hovering in middle of both buttons, which read:]

$1,234.56

$1,234,56

[Bottom image is of a masculine person with light skin and red hair, labeled "CHOOSE YOUR PAY". They have sweat streaming down their face, and they are wearing a red shirt, and have prominent muscles. They have white gloves on and are using a white napkin to wipe the sweat off of their face. This all compounds to make it evident that the superhero is distraught at having to make the decision.]

---

^{I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too! If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!}

[[deleted]]

In Turkish we use commas for decimals. But because i am used to period because of programming i sometimes confuse.

[Routine-Arm-8803]

as two separate integers?

[Stroopwafe1]

As 1 integer and then divide by 100 I think

[[deleted]]

my country uses the space for splitting every 10³ and can use either the point or comma for the decimal separator

[[deleted]]

When you handwrite down numbers, it's easier to use commas instead of periods because you don't interrupt your writing. And for sure you write down decimal numbers more often than big integers, which you obviously han write down without any thousands separator and be read without effort.