MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION MX 61-CFML Reference page 611

Character Meaning
- Puts space before positive number; minus sign before negative number.
, Separates every third decimal place with a comma (or locale-appropriate symbol).
L,C Left-justifies or center-justifies number within width of mask column. First
character of mask must be L or C. Default: right-justified.
$ Puts a dollar sign (or locale-appropriate symbol) before formatted number. First
character of mask must be the dollar sign ($).
^ Separates left and right formatting.
Note: If you do not specify a sign for the mask, positive and negative numbers do not align in
columns. To put a plus sign or space before positive numbers and a minus sign before negative
numbers, use the plus or hyphen mask character, respectively.
Usage
This function uses Java standard locale formatting rules on all platforms.
The position of symbols in format masks determines where the codes take effect. For example, if
you put a dollar sign at the far left of a format mask, ColdFusion displays a dollar sign at the 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.
These examples show how symbols determine formats:
Number Mask
4.37 $____.__
4.37 _$___.__
The positioning can also show where to put a minus sign for negative numbers:
Number Mask
-4.37 -____.__
-4.37 _-___.__
The positions for a symbol are: far left, near left, near right, and far right. The left and right
positions are determined by the side of the decimal point on which the code character is shown.
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.
An underscore determines whether the code is placed in the far or near position. Most code
characters' effect is determined by the field in which they are located. This example shows how to
specify where to put parentheses to display negative numbers:
Number Mask
3.21 C(__^__)
3.21 C__(^__)
Result
"$ 4.37"
" $4.37"
Result
"- 4.37"
" -4.37"
Result
"( 3.21 )"
" (3.21 )"
LSNumberFormat 611