| 0 | Zero placeholder | If the value being formatted has a digit in the position where the '0' appears in the format string, then that digit is copied to the result string. The position of the leftmost '0' before the decimal point and the rightmost '0' after the decimal point determines the range of digits that are always present in the result string. The "00" specifier causes the value to be rounded to the nearest digit preceding the decimal, where rounding away from zero is always used. For example, formatting 34.5 with "00" would result in the value 35. |
| # | Digit placeholder | If the value being formatted has a digit in the position where the '#' appears in the format string, then that digit is copied to the result string. Otherwise, nothing is stored in that position in the result string. This specifier never displays the '0' character if it is not a significant digit, even if '0' is the only digit in the string. It will display the '0' character if it is a significant digit in the number being displayed. The "##" format string causes the value to be rounded to the nearest digit preceding the decimal, where rounding away from zero is always used. For example, formatting 34.5 with "##" would result in the value 35. |
| . | Decimal point | The first '.' character in the format string determines the location of the decimal separator in the formatted value; any additional '.' characters are ignored. The actual character used as the decimal separator is determined by the NumberDecimalSeparator property of the NumberFormatInfo that controls formatting. |
| , | Thousand separator and number scaling | Thousand Separator Specifier:If one or more ',' characters is specified between two digit placeholders (0 or #) that format the integral digits of a number, a group separator character is inserted between each number group in the integral part of the output. The NumberGroupSeparator and NumberGroupSizes properties of the current NumberFormatInfo object determine the character used as the number group separator and the size of each number group.
Number Scaling Specifier:If one or more ',' characters is specified immediately to the left of the explicit or implicit decimal point, the number to be formatted is divided by 1000 each time a number scaling specifier occurs. For example, if the string "0,," is used to format the number 100 million, the output is "100". You can use thousand separator and number scaling specifiers in the same format string. |
| % | Percentage placeholder | The presence of a '%' character in a format string causes a number to be multiplied by 100 before it is formatted. The appropriate symbol is inserted in the number itself at the location where the '%' appears in the format string. The percent character used is dependent on the current NumberFormatInfo class. |
E0
E+0
E-0
e0
e+0
e-0 | Scientific notation | If any of the strings "E", "E+", "E-", "e", "e+", or "e-" are present in the format string and are followed immediately by at least one '0' character, then the number is formatted using scientific notation with an 'E' or 'e' inserted between the number and the exponent. The number of '0' characters following the scientific notation indicator determines the minimum number of digits to output for the exponent. The "E+" and "e+" formats indicate that a sign character (plus or minus) should always precede the exponent. The "E", "E-", "e", or "e-" formats indicate that a sign character should only precede negative exponents. |
| \ | Escape character | In C# and C++, the backslash character causes the next character in the format string to be interpreted as an escape sequence. It is used with traditional formatting sequences like '\n' (new line). In some languages, the escape character itself must be preceded by an escape character when used as a literal. Otherwise, the compiler interprets the character as an escape sequence. Use the string "\\" to display '\'. Note that this escape character is not supported in Visual Basic; however, ControlChars provides the same functionality. |
'ABC'
"ABC" | Literal string | Characters enclosed in single or double quotes are copied to the result string, and do not affect formatting. |
| ; | Section separator | The ';' character is used to separate sections for positive, negative, and zero numbers in the format string. |
| Other | All other characters | Any other character is copied to the result string, and does not affect formatting. |
