Currency-symbol formatting

The IBM® Informix® ESQL/C numeric-format functions support all formatting characters that the IBM Informix ESQL/C Programmer's Manual describes.

In addition, you can use the following formatting characters to indicate the placement of a currency symbol in the formatted output.

Formatting character	Function
$	This character is replaced by the front currency symbol if the locale defines one. The MONETARY category of the locale defines the front currency symbol, which is the symbol that appears before a monetary value. When you group several dollar signs in a row, a single currency symbol floats to the rightmost position that it can occupy without interfering with the number.
@	This character is replaced by the back currency symbol if the locale defines one. The MONETARY category of the locale defines the back currency symbol, the symbol that appears after a monetary value.

For more information, see The MONETARY category.

You can include both formatting characters in a format string. The locale defines whether the currency symbol appears before or after the monetary value, as follows:

If the locale formats monetary values with a currency symbol before the value, the locale sets the currency symbol to the front currency symbol and sets the back currency symbol to a blank character.
If the locale formats monetary values with a currency symbol after the value, the locale sets the currency symbol to the back currency symbol and sets the front currency symbol to a blank character.

The default locale defines the currency symbol as the front currency symbol, which appears as a dollar sign ($). In the default locale, the back currency symbol appears as a blank space. In the default, British, and French locales, the numeric-format functions produce the following results for the internal MONEY value of 1.00.

Format string	Client locale	Formatted result
$*,*	Default locale (en_us.8859-1) British locale (en_gb.8859-1) French locale (fr_fr.8859-15)	$****1 £**1 s****1
$*,*@	Default locale (en_us.8859-1) British locale (en_gb.8859-1) French locale (fr_fr.8859-15)	$****1s £**1s s****1€
$$,$$$.$$	Default locale (en_us.8859-1) British locale (en_gb.8859-1) French locale (fr_fr.8859-15)	ssss$1.00 ssss£1.00 sssss1,00
*,*@	Default locale (en_us.8859-1) British locale (en_gb.8859-1) French locale (fr_fr.8859-15)	****1s **1s ****1€
@*,*	Default locale (en_us.8859-1) British locale (en_gb.8859-1) French locale (fr_fr.8859-15)	s****1 s**1 €****1

In the preceding table, the character s represents a blank or space, € is the currency symbol for Euros, and £ is the British currency symbol for pounds Sterling.

The DBMONEY environment variable can also set the precede-currency symbol and the succeed-currency symbol. The syntax diagram in DBMONEY environment variable refers to these symbols as front and back. The DBMONEY setting, if one is specified, takes precedence over the symbols that the MONETARY category of the locale defines.