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Number skeletons are a locale-agnostic way to configure a NumberFormatter
in ICU. Number skeletons work in MessageFormat
.
Number skeletons consist of case-sensitive tokens that correspond to settings in ICU NumberFormatter
. For example, to format a currency in compact notation with the sign always shown, you could use this skeleton:
sign-always compact-short currency/GBP
Since ICU 67, you can also use more concise syntax:
+! K currency/GBP
To use a skeleton in MessageFormat
, use the “number” type and prefix the skeleton with ::
{0, number, :: +! K currency/GBP}
The ICU toSkeleton()
API outputs the long-form skeletons, but all parts of ICU that read user-specified number skeletons accept both long-form and concise skeletons.
A token consists of a stem and zero or more options. The stem is what occurs before the first "/"
character in a token, and the options are each of the subsequent "/"
-delimited strings. For example, "compact-short"
and “currency” are stems, and "GBP"
is an option.
Tokens are space-separated, with exceptions for concise skeletons listed at the end of this document.
Stems might also be dynamic strings (not a fixed list); these are called blueprint stems. For example, to format a number with 2-3 significant digits, you could use the following stem:
@@#
A few examples of number skeletons are shown below. The list of available stems and options can be found below in Skeleton Stems and Options.
Long Skeleton | Concise Skeleton | Input | en-US Output | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
percent | % | 25 | 25% | |
.00 | .00 | 25 | 25.00 | Equivalent to Precision::fixedFraction(2) |
percent .00 | % .00 | 25 | 25.00% | |
scale/100 | scale/100 | 0.3 | 30 | Multiply by 100 before formatting |
percent scale/100 | %x100 | 0.3 | 30% | |
measure-unit/length-meter | unit/meter | 5 | 5 m | UnitWidth defaults to Short |
measure-unit/length-meter unit-width-full-name | unit/meter unit-width-full-name | 5 | 5 meters | |
currency/CAD | currency/CAD | 10 | CA$10.00 | |
currency/CAD unit-width-narrow | currency/CAD unit-width-narrow | 10 | $10.00 | Use the narrow symbol variant |
compact-short | K | 5000 | 5K | |
compact-long | KK | 5000 | 5 thousand | |
compact-short currency/CAD | K currency/CAD | 5000 | CA$5K | |
- | - | 5000 | 5,000 | |
group-min2 | ,? | 5000 | 5000 | Require 2 digits in group for separator |
group-min2 | ,? | 15000 | 15,000 | |
sign-always | +! | 60 | +60 | Show sign on all numbers |
sign-always | +! | 0 | +0 | |
sign-except-zero | +? | 60 | +60 | Show sign on all numbers except 0 |
sign-except-zero | +? | 0 | 0 | |
sign-accounting currency/CAD | () currency/CAD | -40 | (CA$40.00) |
The full set of features supported by number skeletons is listed by category below.
Use one of the following stems to select compact or simple notation:
compact-short
or K
(concise)compact-long
or KK
(concise)notation-simple
(or omit since this is default)There are two ways to select scientific or engineering notation: using long-form syntax or concise syntax.
Start with the stem scientific
or engineering
. Those stems take the following optional options:
/sign-xxx
sets the sign display option for the exponent; see Sign./*ee
sets exponent digits to “at least 2”; use /*eee
for at least 3 digits, etc./+ee
instead of /*ee
.For example, all the following skeletons are valid:
scientific
scientific/sign-always
scientific/*ee
scientific/*ee/sign-always
The following are examples of concise form:
Concise Skeleton | Equivalent Long-Form Skeleton |
---|---|
E0 | scientific |
E00 | scientific/*ee |
EE+!0 | engineering/sign-always |
E+?00 | scientific/sign-except-zero/+ee |
More precisely:
E
for scientific or EE
for engineering.+!
or +?
as a concise sign display option.0
s. If more than one, set minimum integer digits.The supported types of units are percent, currency, and measurement units. The following skeleton tokens are accepted:
percent
or %
(concise)%x100
to scale the number by 100 and then format with percentpermille
base-unit
currency/XXX
measure-unit/aaaa-bbbb
or unit/bbb
(concise)The percent
, permille
, and base-unit
stems do not take any options.
The currency
stem takes one required option: the three-letter ISO code of the currency to be formatted.
The measure-unit
stem takes one required option: the unit identifier of the unit to be formatted. The full unit identifier is required: both the type and the subtype (for example, length-meter
).
The unit
stem is an alternative to measure-unit
that accepts a core unit identifier with the subtype but not the type (for example, meter
instead of length-meter
). It also supports variations allowed by UTS 35, including the per unit with the -per-
infix (for example, unit/furlong-per-second
).
To specify a unit to put in the denominator, use the following skeleton token. As with the measure-unit
stem, pass the unit identifier as the option:
per-measure-unit/aaaa-bbbb
Note that if the unit
stem is used, the denominator can be placed in the same token as the numerator.
The unit width can be specified by the following stems:
unit-width-narrow
unit-width-short
unit-width-full-name
unit-width-iso-code
unit-width-hidden
For more details, see UNumberUnitWidth
.
The precision category has more blueprint stems than most other categories; they are documented in detail below. The following non-blueprint stems are accepted:
precision-integer
(round to the nearest integer) --- accepts fraction-precision optionsprecision-unlimited
(do not perform rounding; display all digits)precision-increment/dddd
(round to dddd
, a decimal number) --- see belowprecision-currency-standard
precision-currency-cash
To round to the nearest nickel, for example, use the skeleton precision-increment/0.05
. For more information on the decimal number syntax, see Scale.
The following are examples of fraction-precision stems:
Stem | Explanation | Equivalent C++ Code |
---|---|---|
.00 | Exactly 2 fraction digits | Precision::fixedFraction(2) |
.00* | At least 2 fraction digits | Precision::minFraction(2) |
.## | At most 2 fraction digits | Precision::maxFraction(2) |
.0# | Between 1 and 2 fraction digits | Precision::minMaxFraction(1, 2) |
More precisely, the fraction precision stem starts with .
, then contains zero or more 0
symbols, which implies the minimum fraction digits. Then it contains either a *
, for unlimited maximum fraction digits, or zero or more #
symbols, which implies the minimum fraction digits when added to the 0
symbols.
Note that the stem .
is considered valid and is equivalent to precision-integer
.
Fraction-precision stems accept a single optional option: the minimum or maximum number of significant digits. This allows you to combine fraction precision with certain significant digits capabilities. The following are examples:
Skeleton | Explanation | Equivalent C++ Code |
---|---|---|
.##/@@@* | At most 2 fraction digits, but guarantee at least 3 significant digits | Precision::maxFraction(2) .withMinDigits(3) |
.00/@## | Exactly 2 fraction digits, but do not display more than 3 significant digits | Precision::fixedFraction(2) .withMaxDigits(3) |
Precisely, the option starts with one or more @
symbols. Then it contains either a *
, for ::withMinDigits
, or one or more #
symbols, for ::withMaxDigits
. If a #
symbol is present, there must be only one @
symbol.
The following are examples of stems for significant figures:
Stem | Explanation | Equivalent C++ Code |
---|---|---|
@@@ | Exactly 3 significant digits | Precision::fixedSignificantDigits(3) |
@@@* | At least 3 significant digits | Precision::minSignificantDigits(3) |
@## | At most 3 significant digits | Precision::maxSignificantDigits(3) |
@@# | Between 2 and 3 significant digits | ...::minMaxSignificantDigits(2, 3) |
The precise syntax is very similar to fraction precision. The blueprint stem starts with one or more @
symbols, which implies the minimum significant digits. Then it contains either a *
, for unlimited maximum significant digits, or zero or more #
symbols, which implies the minimum significant digits when added to the @
symbols.
Prior to ICU 67, the symbol +
was used for unlimited precision, instead of *
(for example, .00+
). For backwards compatibility, either +
or *
is accepted. This applies for both fraction digits and significant digits.
The rounding mode can be specified by the following stems:
rounding-mode-ceiling
rounding-mode-floor
rounding-mode-down
rounding-mode-up
rounding-mode-half-even
rounding-mode-half-down
rounding-mode-half-up
rounding-mode-unnecessary
For more details, see Rounding Modes.
The following examples show how to specify integer width (minimum or maximum integer digits):
Long Form | Concise Form | Explanation | Equivalent C++ Code |
---|---|---|---|
integer-width/*000 | 000 | At least 3 integer digits | IntegerWidth::zeroFillTo(3) |
integer-width/##0 | - | Between 1 and 3 integer digits | IntegerWidth::zeroFillTo(1) .truncateAt(3) |
integer-width/00 | - | Exactly 2 integer digits | IntegerWidth::zeroFillTo(2) .truncateAt(2) |
integer-width/* | - | Zero or more integer digits | IntegerWidth::zeroFillTo(0) |
The long-form option starts with either a single *
symbol, signaling no limit on the number of integer digits (no truncateAt
), or zero or more #
symbols. It should then be followed by zero or more 0
symbols, indicating the minimum integer digits (the argument to zeroFillTo
). If there is no *
symbol, the maximum integer digits (the argument to truncateAt
) is the number of #
symbols plus the number of 0
symbols.
The concise skeleton is simply one or more 0
characters. This supports minimum integer digits but not maximum integer digits.
Prior to ICU 67, use the symbol +
instead of *
.
To specify the scale, use the following stem and option:
scale/dddd
where dddd
is a decimal number. For example, the following are valid skeletons:
scale/100
(multiply by 100)scale/1E2
(same as above)scale/0.5
(multiply by 0.5)The decimal number should conform to a standard decimal number syntax. In C++, it is parsed using the decimal number library described in LocalizedNumberFormatter::formatDecimal. In Java, it is parsed using BigDecimal. For maximum compatibility, it is highly recommended that your decimal number is able to be parsed by both engines.
The grouping strategy can be specified by the following stems:
group-off
or ,_
(concise)group-min2
or ,?
(concise)group-auto
(or omit since this is the default)group-on-aligned
or ,!
(concise)group-thousands
(no concise equivalent)For more details, see UNumberGroupingStrategy
.
The following stems are allowed for specifying the number symbols:
latin
(use Latin-script digits)numbering-system/nnnn
(use the nnnn
numbering system)A custom NDecimalFormatSymbols
instance is not supported at this time.
The following stems specify sign display:
sign-auto
(or omit since this is the default)sign-always
or +!
(concise)sign-never
or +_
(concise)sign-accounting
or ()
(concise)sign-accounting-always
or ()!
(concise)sign-except-zero
or +?
(concise)sign-accounting-except-zero
or ()?
(concise)sign-negative
or +-
(concise)sign-accounting-negative
or ()-
(concise)For more details, see UNumberSignDisplay
.
The following stems specify decimal separator display:
decimal-auto
decimal-always
For more details, see UNumberDecimalSeparatorDisplay
.