Formatting Numbers, Currency, and Percents in VB

Written By TheVBProgramer.

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FormatNumber Returns an expression formatted as a number

FormatCurrency Returns an expression formatted as a number with a leading

currency symbol ($)

FormatPercent Returns an expression formatted as a percentage (multiplied by

100) with a trailing % character.

The syntax for FormatNumber is:

FormatNumber(Expression[,NumDigitsAfterDecimal [,IncludeLeadingDigit
[,UseParensForNegativeNumbers [,GroupDigits]]]])

Where:

Expression is the expression to be formatted

NumDigitsAfterDecimal is the number of digits desired after the decimal point

IncludeLeadingDigit is a True/False value indicating whether or not a zero shou

be included to the left of decimal values

UseParensForNegativeNumbers is a True/False value indicating whether or not parentheses

should be used for negative values

GroupDigits is a True/False value indicating whether or not to use comm

to group digits

The syntax for FormatCurrency and FormatPercent are exactly the same as
FormatNumber.

For the examples below, assume dblTestNumber contains the value 12345.678
Expression Result

FormatNumber(dblTestNumber, 2, True, True, 12,345.68

True)

FormatCurrency(dblTestNumber, 2, True, True, $12,345.68

True)

FormatPrecent(dblTestNumber, 2, True, True, 1,234,567.80%

True)

"Try It" Code:

Private Sub cmdTryIt_Click()

Dim dblTestNumber As Double

dblTestNumber = Val(InputBox("Please enter a number:"))

Print "Input: "; Tab(25); dblTestNumber

Print "Using FormatNumber:"; Tab(25);

FormatNumber(dblTestNumber, 2, True, True, True)

Print "Using FormatCurrency:"; Tab(25);

FormatCurrency(dblTestNumber, 2, True, True, True)

Print "Using FormatPercent:"; Tab(25);

FormatPercent(dblTestNumber, 2, True, True, True)

End Sub

Output:
Download the VB project code for the example above here.

FormatDateTime Returns an expression formatted as a date or time.

Syntax:

FormatDateTime(Date[,NamedFormat])

The FormatDateTime function syntax has these parts:

Part Description

Date Required. Date expression to be formatted.

NamedFormat Optional. Numeric value that indicates the date/time format used. If
omitted, vbGeneralDate is used.

Settings:

The NamedFormat argument has the following settings:

Constant Value Description

vbGeneralDate 0 Display a date and/or time. If there is a date part, display it as a shor
date. If there is a time part, display it as a long time. If present, both
parts are displayed.

vbLongDate 1 Display a date using the long date format specified in your computer
regional settings.

vbShortDate 2 Display a date using the short date format specified in your compute
regional settings.

vbLongTime 3 Display a time using the time format specified in your computer's
regional settings.

vbShortTime 4 Display a time using the 24-hour format (hh:mm).

"Try It" Code:

Private Sub cmdTryIt_Click()

Print "Using vbGeneralDate:"; Tab(25);

FormatDateTime(Now, vbGeneralDate)

Print "Using vbLongDate:"; Tab(25); FormatDateTime(Now,

vbLongDate)

Print "Using vbShortDate:"; Tab(25); FormatDateTime(Now,

vbShortDate)

Print "Using vbLongTime:"; Tab(25); FormatDateTime(Now,

vbLongTime)

Print "Using vbShortTime:"; Tab(25); FormatDateTime(Now,

vbShortTime)

End Sub
Output:

Note that the previous example used built-in VB constants ("vbGeneralDate",

"vbLongDate", etc.). There are numerous VB constants available that represent
arguments used with various VB functions. These built-in constants typically begin
with the letters "vb". In your code, it is good practice to use the constant name as
opposed to the constant value.

In other words, use:

FormatDateTime(Now, vbLongDate)

instead of:

FormatDateTime(Now, 1)

Download the VB project code for the example above here.