MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION 5 - CFML Reference page 566

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Note
If you do not specify a sign for the mask, positive and negative numbers do not align
in columns. If you expect to display positive and negative numbers in your
application, use the space or - (minus sign) to force a space in front of positive
numbers and a minus sign in front of negative numbers.
Usage The position of codes in format masks determines where those codes will have effect.
For example, if you place a dollar sign character at the far left of a format mask,
ColdFusion displays a dollar sign at the very left edge of the formatted number. If you
separate the dollar sign on the left edge of the format mask by at least one
underscore, ColdFusion displays the dollar sign just to the left of the digits in the
formatted number.
In the examples below, the numbers under the masks and the formatted output are
used to clearly show the positions of characters.
Number
4.37
4.37
This positioning idea can also be used to show where to place the - (minus sign) for
negative numbers:
Number
-4.37
-4.37
There are four positions for a code character: far left, near left, near right, and far
right. The left and right positions are determined by the side of the decimal point the
code character is shown on. For formats that do not have a fixed number of decimal
places, you can use a ^ (caret) to separate the left fields from the right.
Whether the code is placed in the far or near position is determined by the use of _
(underscore). Most code characters have their effect determined by the field they are
located in. The following example shows how to use the field to determine exactly
where to place parentheses to display negative numbers:
Number
3.21
3.21
3.21
Mask Result
$____.__ "$
_$___.__ "
12345678
Mask Result
-____.__ "-
_-___.__ "
12345678 12345678
Mask Result
C(__^__) "( 3.21 )"
C__(^__) " (3.21 )"
C(__^)__ "( 3.21) "
Chapter 3 ColdFusion Functions
4.37"
$4.37"
12345678
4.37"
-4.37"