On 28 August 2017 at 22:53, Tom Lane <t...@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote: > Erwin Brandstetter <brsaw...@gmail.com> writes: > > On 21 August 2017 at 16:30, David G. Johnston < > david.g.johns...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > >> On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 5:36 AM, Erwin Brandstetter <brsaw...@gmail.com > > > >> wrote: > >>> The example fails for locales where the comma (',') does not happen to > be > >>> the group separator and the dot ('.') is not the decimal point. > > >> If one wants to try the example in a language other than in which the > >> example was written they should modify it so that the literal number > being > >> parsed in written in conformance to the locale definition for the > language > >> you are using. > > > I guess there should be some more explanation. > > Yeah. How about adding something like this to the "Usage notes for > numeric formatting" between tables 9-26 and 9-27: > > * The pattern characters S, L, D, and G represent the sign, > currency symbol, decimal point, and thousands separator characters > defined by the current locale (see lc_monetary and lc_numeric). > The pattern characters period and comma represent those exact > characters, with the meanings of decimal point and thousands > separator, regardless of locale. > > That should help to clear up some confusion, especially for to_number(). I suggest some minor modifications:
* The pattern characters S, L, D, and G represent the sign, currency symbol, decimal point, and group separator characters defined by the current locale (see lc_monetary and lc_numeric). The pattern characters period (.) and comma (,) represent decimal point and group separator, regardless of locale. Regards Erwin Brandstetter