who manages the en_ZA locale

[Speedster]

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...

In which case up until Windows 7 the default setting was incorrect and they corrected the error.

 

[gotaway]

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 separator. It should be a space.

https://lh.2xlibre.net/locale/en_ZA/ (not authoritative)

 

[HAL 9000]

In which case up until Windows 7 the default setting was incorrect and they corrected the error.

So, according to your rationale, all the way from MS Windows 3.1 to MS Windows XP - (between 1992 & 2007) - Microsoft had the default EN-za settings configured INCORRECTLY - and NO-ONE corrected it for over a decade & a half...

 

[gotaway]

You've still got a comma

This better?

number sold item description full date
10 000 Purple Widgets Sat 21 Sep 2024

 

[Speedster]

So, according to your rationale, all the way from MS Windows 3.1 to MS Windows XP - (between 1992 & 2007) - Microsoft had the default EN-za settings configured INCORRECTLY - and NO-ONE corrected it for over a decade & a half...

This better?

number sold item description full date
10 000 Purple Widgets Sat 21 Sep 2024

Now you've only got spaces... Use some form of seperator for between columns

 

[Speedster]

My rationale is simply the existing law and regulations.

tl;dr: The comma is the decimal mark for South Africa.

source: https://www.sadev.co.za/how-correctly-format-currency-south-africa

 

[Speedster]

Technically speaking, the official format for numbers in South Africa is spaces for the thousands separator and a comma for the decimal mark.

Source: https://fletchjeff.medium.com/south-african-number-formats-60927bbf7382

 

[Speedster]

When South Africa adopted the metric system, it adopted the comma as its decimal separator

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator

 

[HAL 9000]

This better?

number sold item description full date
10 000 Purple Widgets Sat 21 Sep 2024

That would work with the SPACE as the delimiter, if you wanted to import each set of data into a separate column...

Thousands | Hundreds | Colour | Item | Weekday | Day | Month | Year
10 | 000 | Purple | Widgets | Sat | 21 | Sep | 2024

 

[HAL 9000]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator

And that's where the problem started...

 

[Speedster]

Please note the following with regard to the legal system of measurement in South Africa:


The Legal Metrology Act, 2014 (Act 9 of 2014), and the Measuring Units and Measuring Standards Act, 2006 (Act 18 of 2006) prescribe the use of the International Metric System (SI).

The SI was introduced in South Africa on 5 July 1974.

This is the only legal system of measurement in South Africa.

The comma is the only recognised decimal indicator for all numbers, including amounts of (currency) money.

If there are more than three numerals on either side of the decimal indicator, these numerals are divided into groups of three by means of spaces, counting from the decimal sign, e.g. 1 725 352,648 901.

Source: https://www.sahpra.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2.38_SI_Metric_System_Mar19_v3.pdf

 

[gotaway]

Now you've only got spaces... Use some form of separator for between columns

I used a space for that (as well)
Idea is to highlight the imperfectness of dogmatic approaches

 

[HAL 9000]

My rationale is simply the existing law and regulations.


source: https://www.sadev.co.za/how-correctly-format-currency-south-africa

There's a difference between rationale & logic - just because it says so, doesn't mean that it's the right option...

 

[Speedster]

Finally, it is worth noting that, in Table 1, the grouping of thousands (in threes) and the use of the decimal comma, as opposed to the decimal point, was effected, to be in accordance with the applicable legislation of South Africa: “where the magnitude of a quantity is expressed in terms of a unit, a comma on the line is used as the decimal sign in the numerical part of the expression and the digits are separated into groups of three digits on either side of the comma by means of spaces...”

In view of the South African law, however, the comma shall still be employed in South Africa as “the only recognised decimal indicator for all numbers”

 

[Speedster]

There's a difference between rationale & logic - just because it says so, doesn't mean that it's the right option...

Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean your view is right and the legislated one is wrong.

 

[HAL 9000]

Please explain why the full stop in a numeric expression - used to separate the whole number from the decimal values - has ALWAYS been referred to a a DECIMAL POINT - as I have NEVER heard it referred to as a DECIMAL COMMA before...

 

[Speedster]

In South Africa the convention is to use the decimal comma to separate whole numbers from decimal fractions. We use spaces to separate groups of three digits. So we write one million rand as R1 000 000,00. This makes big numbers easier to read. Compare 3000000 to 3 000 000.

Using commas to separate groups is not common in South Africa however, and so this convention should be avoided - rather use spaces.

Source: https://www.siyavula.com/read/za/ma...s/01-numbers-and-calculations-with-numbers-02

 

[Speedster]

Please explain why the full stop in a numeric expression - used to separate the whole number from the decimal values - has ALWAYS been referred to a a DECIMAL POINT - as I have NEVER heard it referred to as a DECIMAL COMMA before...

You're pissing against the wind here. Decimal point and decimal comma are two different ways of indicating decimals.

Full stop is a punctuation mark indicating the end of a sentence. It has no role in numbers.

A decimal separator is a symbol that separates the integer part from the fractional part of a number written in decimal form (e.g., "." in 12.45). Different countries officially designate different symbols for use as the separator. The choice of symbol also affects the choice of symbol for the thousands separator used in digit grouping.

Any such symbol can be called a decimal mark, decimal marker, or decimal sign. Symbol-specific names are also used; decimal point and decimal comma refer to a dot (either baseline or middle) and comma respectively, when it is used as a decimal separator; these are the usual terms used in English,[1][2][3] with the aforementioned generic terms reserved for abstract usage.

Decimal separator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Speedster]

Please explain why the full stop in a numeric expression - used to separate the whole number from the decimal values - has ALWAYS been referred to a a DECIMAL POINT - as I have NEVER heard it referred to as a DECIMAL COMMA before...

declares that the symbol for the decimal marker shall be either the point on the line or the comma on the line,

reaffirms that "Numbers may be divided in groups of three in order to facilitate reading; neither dots nor commas are ever inserted in the spaces between groups", as stated in Resolution 7 of the 9th CGPM, 1948.

resolution 10 - BIPM

www.bipm.org

 

[Speedster]

https://lh.2xlibre.net/locale/en_ZA/ (not authoritative)
View attachment 1758682

This is clearly incorrect and should be updated to accurately reflect South African usage and law.