Formatting Currency in Python: A Comprehensive Guide

Formatting numbers as currency is a common task in programming, especially when dealing with financial data. In Python, the locale module provides convenient functions for formatting currency values.

How to Format Currency Values with Python's locale Module

1. Import the locale module:

import locale

2. Set the locale:

To ensure accurate currency formatting, it's essential to set the locale to the desired region.

locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')

This line of code sets the locale to the user's current locale (typically based on system settings).

3. Format the currency:

The locale.currency() function can be used to format currency values. It accepts the following parameters:

• value: The numeric value to format.
• grouping (optional): If set to True, the function will group digits into thousands with commas.

# Format without grouping
>>> locale.currency(188518982.18)
'$188518982.18'

# Format with grouping
>>> locale.currency(188518982.18, grouping=True)
'$188,518,982.18'

By specifying the correct locale and using locale.currency(), you can easily format numeric values as currency in any desired format, including with grouping and currency symbols.