Decimal separator
The character that divides the whole part of a number from the fraction. It is a period in the United States, as in 3.14, and a comma in much of Europe, as in 3,14.
The same characters swap roles between conventions, so 1,234 is one thousand two hundred thirty-four to one reader and a little over one to another. Settle which convention a file uses before converting anything to numbers.
Where it comes up
- Numbers stored as textA column of quantities contains symbols, separators, or words that stop software reading it as numbers.
- Rounding and precision lossDigits were dropped when a value was displayed, exported, or converted, and the file now holds the shortened number.
See also
- Thousands separatorA character placed between groups of digits to make large numbers easier to read: the comma in 1,250,000. Other conventions use a period, a space, or an apostrophe.
- LocaleThe set of regional conventions software uses to read and write values: the order of day and month, the decimal and thousands separators, the currency symbol.
- ParsingReading text and working out its structure: turning the characters 03/04/2025 into a date, or one line of a file into separate fields.