Formatting Character | Description | Results |
|---|---|---|
. (period) | Decimal placeholder | Determines how many digits are displayed to the left and right of the decimal separator. The actual character used is the one specified as the decimal placeholder in the international settings in the Control Panel. This character is treated as a literal for masking purposes. |
, (comma) | Thousand separator | Separates thousands from hundreds within a number that has four or more places to the left of the decimal separator. The actual character used is the one specified as the thousands separator in the international settings in the Control Panel. This character is treated as a literal for masking purposes. |
: (colon) | Time separator | Separates time elements, such as hour:minute:second. The actual character used is the one specified as the time separator in the international settings in the Control Panel. This character is treated as a literal for masking purposes. |
/ (slash) | Date separator | Separates date elements such as day/month/year. The actual character used is the one specified as the date separator in the international settings in the Control Panel. This character is treated as a literal for masking purposes. |
# | Digit placeholder | Displays a digit (0-9). For example, ####.## accepts 1234.12. |
A | Alphanumeric placeholder | Displays an alphanumeric character (a-Z and 0-9) and is required. |
? | Alphabetic placeholder | Displays an alphabetic character (a-Z) and is optional. |
> | Alphabetic placeholder, but forces uppercase characters (A-Z) | All characters are displayed in uppercase format. |
< | Alphabetic placeholder, but forces lowercase characters (a-z) | All characters are displayed in lowercase format. |
& | Character placeholder | Valid values are ANSI characters in the following ranges: 32-126 and 128-255 and is required. |
\ | Displays the next character in the format string | Many characters in the format expression have a special meaning and can’t be displayed as literal characters unless they are preceded by a backslash. The backslash itself is not displayed. Note that two backslashes must be used in string literals to accommodate for the fact that this is also treated as an escape character for ANSI/ISO string formatting. |
Formatting Character | Description | Results |
|---|---|---|
> | Forces uppercase characters (A-Z) | All characters that follow the > symbol are displayed as uppercase. |
< | Forces lowercase characters (a-z) | All characters that follow the < symbol are displayed as lowercase. |
0 (Zero) | Numeric placeholder | Displays any digit (0-9) and is a required field. |
9 | Placeholder for digit or space | Displays a digit (0-9) or a space and is an optional field. |
L | Alphabetic placeholder | Displays alphabetic characters only. |
C | Character placeholder | Displays characters and is optional. |
a | Alphanumeric placeholder | Displays alphanumeric characters (0-9 and a-Z) and is optional. |
$ | Currency symbol | Displays currency types. |
| | Pipe symbol | Disables a previous shift up or down. |