who manages the en_ZA locale

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Jongi

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it has the comma seperator as a dot (.)

it has the decimal seperator as a comma (,)

the date format is not 27 Apr 24, 27/4/24

how can this be changed?
 
This gets set as part of a Task Sequence step during the F12 build process after a pixie boot. A PowerShell script gets called and the settings updates the OS.
 
Jongi said:
it has the comma seperator as a dot (.)

it has the decimal seperator as a comma (,)

the date format is not 27 Apr 24, 27/4/24

how can this be changed?
Click to expand...

We need details, you talking about in Windows or what?
 
Just change it in regional settings and move on with your life , way to much other stuff to worry about
 
In Windows (10 or 11) - click on Search, type in Control Panel - open it - change the view to LARGE ICONS - then open Region...

Change the 'FORMAT:' setting to English (South Africa) - if it not already set correctly, and change both the SHORT DATE & LONG DATE formats as displayed - then click on 'ADDITIONAL SETTINGS'...

1726406309846.png

On the NUMBERS tab, change the three highlighted settings as follows:

1. If there is a comma for the DECIMAL SYMBOL - delete it & insert a FULL STOP
2. If there is a comma in the DIGIT GROUPING SYMBOL setting - delete it & type in a SINGLE SPACE
3. If there is a semi-colon ( ; ) in the LIST SEPARATOR setting - delete it & type in a COMMA

1726406642774.png

On the CURRENCY tab, change the two highlighted settings as follows:

1. If there is a comma for the DECIMAL SYMBOL - delete it & insert a FULL STOP
2. If there is a comma in the DIGIT GROUPING SYMBOL setting - delete it & type in a SINGLE SPACE

1726407041089.png

Then click APPLY & then OK - Click OK again to close the REGION settings dialog box, then close the CONTROL PANEL.

Now Windows, MS Office & any other apps will all default to the newly revised 'English (South Africa)' punctuation settings.

;)
 
well yeah i know i can change them.

my question is about the default settings.

i think we would all agree that the decimal should be a point.

it seems we might have a conversation about the thousand separator being a comma or a space. it should be a comma.
 
It would make much more sense for the thousands separator for both numbers & currency formatting to ALWAYS be a space, and the decimal point to ALWAYS be a full stop, as that allows for CSV (comma separated values) data files to be exported or imported correctly using MS Excel, without the extra commas inserted for the thousands separators & decimal point throwing everything into disarray by putting everything after each comma into a separate column.

Example:

CSV file for a data entry with commas for both the thousands separators & decimal point:

ABCXYZ,123,456,789,00,ZYXCBA

Result of importing it into MS Excel using the comma as the list separator symbol - the | indicates each separate column...

ABCXYZ | 123 | 456 | 789 | 00 | ZYXCBA

CSV file for a data entry with a space as the thousands separators & a full stop as the decimal point:

ABCXYZ,123 456 789.00,ZYXCBA

Result of importing it into MS Excel using the comma as the list separator symbol - the | indicates each separate column...

ABCXYZ | 123 456 789.00 | ZYXCBA

Otherwise, you would have to change the list separator symbol from a comma to a semi-colon, in order for MS Excel to utilise the semi-colon symbol to export or import a CSV file correctly (it should rather then be called a Semi-Colon Separated Values (S-CSV) file)... ;)
 
Last edited:
Jongi said:
well yeah i know i can change them.

my question is about the default settings.

i think we would all agree that the decimal should be a point.

it seems we might have a conversation about the thousand separator being a comma or a space. it should be a comma.
Click to expand...
Who even uses a comma for a thousand seperator. Don't come here with those tendencies!

And at school we were clearly taught to use a comma for decimals.
 
Speedster said:
Who even uses a comma for a thousand seperator. Don't come here with those tendencies!

And at school we were clearly taught to use a comma for decimals.
Click to expand...
When I was taught English, Mathematics & Accounting, the full stop was reserved for either ending a sentence of text or separating the decimal values from whole numbers, and a space separated words or was used as the thousands separator.

That's why the dot is referred to as a DECIMAL POINT or PERIOD. The comma was only used in a paragraph of text for punctuation purposes.

Somehow, somewhere, someone in an ivory tower decided that the comma should also be utilised to separate numbers from each other, and that's where the problem started... ;)
 
Ivan Leon said:
When I was taught English, Mathematics & Accounting, the full stop was reserved for either ending a sentence of text or separating the decimal values from whole numbers, and a space separated words or was used as the thousands separator. The comma was only used in a paragraph of text for punctuation purposes.

Somehow, someone, somewhere in an ivory tower decided that the comma should also be utilised to separate numbers from each other, and that's where the problem started... ;)
Click to expand...
nearly-untypeable.txt
Code: 
number¦item¦date
10,000¦widgets¦Sat, 21 Sep 24
 
Ivan Leon said:
When I was taught English, Mathematics & Accounting, the full stop was reserved for either ending a sentence of text or separating the decimal values from whole numbers, and a space separated words or was used as the thousands separator.

That's why the dot is referred to as a DECIMAL POINT or PERIOD. The comma was only used in a paragraph of text for punctuation purposes.

Somehow, somewhere, someone in an ivory tower decided that the comma should also be utilised to separate numbers from each other, and that's where the problem started... ;)
Click to expand...

You should ask for you school fees back. South African convention (and I believe law) has always been decimal comma.
 
gotaway said:
nearly-untypeable.txt
Code: 
number¦item¦date
10,000¦widgets¦Sat, 21 Sep 24
Click to expand...
The question here isn't what works best for software built upon US conventions, the question is what is the correct ZA convection.

Also, the error in this example is that it's using a comma as a seperator. It should be a space.
 
Ivan Leon said:
Indeed so - if you tried importing that into MS Excel as a CSV file, you would end up with:

10 | 000 | widgets | Sat | 21 Sep 24
Click to expand...
So much better to use a different field separator such as ~ or |

I change every computer I have to use . as decimal point.
, for 1000 separator should just be for display formatting and reports
Reports should not be used for import into other systems, only for human consumption.

And in general, if you have to work with cheapskates who cannot/will not do a report and an export separately, reconsider you life choices
 
Using a space in the above example:
spaced-out.txt
Code: 
number item date
10,000 Purple Widgets Sat, 21 Sep 2024
 
Speedster said:
The question here isn't what works best for software built upon US conventions, the question is what is the correct ZA convection.
Click to expand...
FYI - up to MS Windows 7, the default settings for English - South Africa (EN-za) was a full stop for the DECIMAL POINT, a SPACE as the thousands separator, and a COMMA as the list separator.

However, from MS Windows 8.x onwards, Microsoft decided to change the default EN-za settings to a COMMA for a decimal - and that's where the problem started with exporting & importing CSV files... ;)
 
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