Custom number formats

Using number format codes, you can create your own custom number
formats. Number format codes can have up to four sections, separated
by semicolons. These sections define the formats for positive numbers,
negative numbers, zero values, and text, in that order.

If you include only two sections, the first one is used for positive
numbers and zeros, and the second one is used for negative numbers. If
you have only one section, all numbers use that format. If you skip a
section, include the semicolon.

For more information about basic number format codes, click .

For more information about number format codes for dates and times,
click .

For more information about number format codes for text and spacing,
click .

For more information about other number format codes, click .

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Basic number format codes

· Use the General format to display numbers as integers, fractions as
decimals, and scientific format for numbers that are too wide for the
cell. Click Cells on the Format menu, click the Number tab, and click
General in the Type box.

· To display a specific number of digits (0's or #'s) to the right and
left of the decimal point, include a decimal point in the number
format. If the format contains only #'s to the left of the decimal
point, numbers less than 1 begin with a decimal point.


· To create placeholders for numbers, include the following format
codes in a section. If the number has more digits to the right of the
decimal point than there are placeholders in the format, the number is
rounded to as many decimal places as there are placeholders. If the
number has more digits to the left of the decimal point than there are
placeholders in the format, the extra digits are displayed.


· # does not display extra zeros.

· 0 (zero) displays extra zeros when a number has fewer digits than
there are zeros in the format.

· ? displays extra zeros when a number has fewer digits than there are
zeros in the format, and also adds a space for insignificant zeros on
either side of the decimal point so that decimal points align. You can
also use this symbol for fractions that have varying numbers of
digits.


To display				Use this format code

1234.59 as 1234.6			####.#

8.9 as 8.900				#.000

12 as 12.0 and 1234.568 as 1234.57	#.0#

5.25 as 5 1/4 and 5.3 as 5 3/10, with aligned division symbols	
					# ???/???

.5 as 0.5				0.##

· To display a comma as a thousands separator or to scale a number by
a multiple of a thousand, include a comma in the number format.



To display		  Use this format code

12000 as 12,000		  #,###

12000 as 12		  #,

12200000 as 12.2	  0.0,,

· To set the color for a section of the format, type the name of the
color in square brackets in the section. To display a color from the
color palette, include [COLOR n] in a section, where n is a number
from 0 to 56.


[BLACK]	[BLUE]
[CYAN]	[GREEN]
[MAGENTA]	[RED]
[WHITE]	[YELLOW]

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Number format codes for dates and times

· To display days, months, and years, include the following format
codes in a section. If you use m immediately after the h or hh format
code, Microsoft Excel displays the minute instead of the month.

To display		   Use this format code
Months as 1-12		   m
Months as 01-12	           mm
Months as Jan-Dec	   mmm
Months as January-December mmmm
Days as 1-31		   d
Days as 01-31		   dd
Days as Sun-Sat		   ddd
Days as Sunday-Saturday	   dddd
Years as 00-99		   yy
Years as 1900-2078	   yyyy

· To display hours, minutes, and seconds, include the following format
codes in a section.

To display	        Use this format code
Hours as 0-23		h
Hours as 00-23		hh
Minutes as 0-59		m
Minutes as 00-59	mm
Seconds as 0-59		s
Seconds as 00-59	ss
Hours as 4 AM		h AM
Time as 4:36 pm		h:mm pm
Time as 4:36:03 p	h:mm:ss p
Hours as 25.02		[h]:mm
Minutes as 63:46	[mm]:ss

If the format contains an AM or PM, the hour is based on the 12-hour
clock, where AM, am, A, or a indicates times from midnight until noon,
and PM, pm, P, or p indicates times from noon until
midnight. Otherwise, the hour is based on the 24-hour clock. The m or
mm must appear immediately after the h or hh format code, or Microsoft
Excel displays the month rather than the minute. 

You can also use the decimal point to create time formats that display
fractions of a second. 

To display hours greater than 24, or minutes or seconds greater than
60, place brackets around the leftmost part of the time code. For
example, the time code [h]:mm:ss allows the display of hours greater
than 24.


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Number format codes for text and spacing

·	To display characters, either enclose the characters in double
quotation marks or precede them with a backslash. The following
special characters do not need to be enclosed in quotation marks to be
displayed: $ - + / ( ) : space. If you enter any of the following
symbols, a backslash is provided for you: ! ^ & ` (left single
quotation mark) ' (right single quotation mark) ~ { } = < >.

·	To create a space the width of a character in a number format,
include an underscore followed by the character. For example, an
underscore followed by a closing parenthesis allows positive numbers
to line up correctly with negative numbers that are enclosed in
parentheses.

· To include a text section in a number format, include the symbol @
in the number format. Any text entered in the cell is formatted
according to the section where the @ symbol appears. If the format
does not have a text section, text you enter is not affected by the
format.

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Other number format codes

·	To display numbers as a percentage, where the number is
multiplied by 100 and the percent sign is added, include the percent
sign (%) in the number format.

·	To display numbers in scientific format, include the following
format codes in a section. If a format contains a 0 or # to the right
of an E-, E+, e-, or e+, Microsoft Excel displays the number in
scientific format and inserts an E or e. The number of 0's or #'s to
the right determines the exponent's number of digits. E- or e- places
a minus sign by negative exponents. E+ or e+ places a minus sign by
negative exponents and a plus sign by positive exponents. 

·	To repeat the next character in the format enough times to
fill the column width, include an asterisk (*) in the number format. 

·	To set conditional values for a section, enclose the condition
in square brackets, where condition is <, >, =, >=, <=, or <>. You can
set conditions for each section of a number format. For example, the
following format displays entries greater than 1000 in blue: 

[>1000][Blue]#,##

