decimal point character

[Bror Johansson]

Is there a way to 'configure' the built-in conversion function float() to
accept '.' (dot) as decimalpartdelimiter when executing in an
anglo-american-language environment and to accept ',' (comma) when executing
in a language environment where that character is used for the same purpose?

Is there a pure (=working in Windows as well as in UNIX) Python way to find
out what char float() accepts as decimal point in strings?

/BJ

 

[Ben Finney]

Is there a way to 'configure' the built-in conversion function float() to
accept '.' (dot) as decimalpartdelimiter when executing in an
anglo-american-language environment and to accept ',' (comma) when executing
in a language environment where that character is used for the same purpose?

The word you want, rather than "environment", is "locale". The issue of
decimal point separator is one of the "locale conventions", queried via
locale.localeconv().
['en_AU', 'utf']

>>> locale.localeconv()['decimal_point'] '.'
>>> locale.localeconv()['mon_decimal_point']

''
{'mon_decimal_point': '', 'int_frac_digits': 127, 'p_sep_by_space':
127, 'frac_digits': 127, 'thousands_sep': '', 'n_sign_posn': 127,
'decimal_point': '.', 'int_curr_symbol': '', 'n_cs_precedes': 127,
'p_sign_posn': 127, 'mon_thousands_sep': '', 'negative_sign': '',
'currency_symbol': '', 'n_sep_by_space': 127, 'mon_grouping': [],
'p_cs_precedes': 127, 'positive_sign': '', 'grouping': []}

Read about what each of these convention values mean:

<http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-locale.html>

 

[Bror Johansson]

message ....

The word you want, rather than "environment", is "locale". The issue of
decimal point separator is one of the "locale conventions", queried via
locale.localeconv(). ....
Read about what each of these convention values mean:

<http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-locale.html>

Excellent answer. I really should have come to think about locale myself,
but ...

.... still some questions:

I don't see anything about the builtin float() adhering to locale
conventions. Am I right to assume that float() behaves according to locale?

Is it "allowed" to modify localeconv()['decimal point'], or are unexpected
sideeffects possible?

/BJ