South Africa Number Format
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Format Rules
South Africa formatting implementation notes
For South Africa, format numbers with the explicit locale en-ZA; the reference value 1234567.89 renders as 1 234 567,89.
South Africa's reference format uses "," as the decimal mark and a narrow non-breaking space (U+202F) for grouping. The integer uses repeating groups of three digits. Pass "en-ZA" directly to Intl.NumberFormat instead of replacing punctuation in a preformatted string.
ZAR is shown with R immediately before the amount; the same reference value renders as R 1 234 567,89. The percent sign appears immediately after the amount. Use the ISO currency code for storage and interchange because a visible symbol can be shared by unrelated currencies.
Western 0–9 digits are the page's reference digit system, and the negative pattern is -n. This country is multilingual in software contexts: also test af-ZA, zu-ZA, because language selection can change spacing, punctuation, and currency display without changing the region. Validate output with formatToParts() when spacing, signs, or bidirectional literals affect the interface.
- Locale: en-ZA
- Decimal and grouping: 1 234 567,89
- Currency: ZAR → R 1 234 567,89
- Digits: Western 0–9 digits
Reviewed 19 July 2026. Sources: Unicode locale number formats · Intl.NumberFormat reference
What's different here
- Decimal mark is a comma (,) (en-US uses a period (.)).
- Thousands are grouped with a narrow no-break space (U+202F) (en-US uses a comma (,)).
- No other page in this directory shares this exact number pattern.
- Nearby differences: Nigeria (en-NG) uses a period (.) as the decimal mark instead of a comma (,) and groups with a comma (,) instead of a narrow no-break space (U+202F); Kenya (sw-KE) uses a period (.) as the decimal mark instead of a comma (,) and groups with a comma (,) instead of a narrow no-break space (U+202F); Ghana (ak-GH) uses a period (.) as the decimal mark instead of a comma (,) and groups with a comma (,) instead of a narrow no-break space (U+202F); Ethiopia (am-ET) uses a period (.) as the decimal mark instead of a comma (,) and groups with a comma (,) instead of a narrow no-break space (U+202F).
- Currency: ZAR has ISO minor unit 2.
- The grouping character is a narrow no-break space (U+202F), not a regular space. Normalise it before parsing user input or comparing strings.
- Postal address order: name → building → street number + street → suburb → city → postcode → country. See address formats.
Reference value 1234567.89 in each locale
| Locale | Output |
|---|---|
| en-ZA | 1 234 567,89 |
| af-ZA | 1 234 567,89 |
| zu-ZA | 1,234,567.89 |
Rendered with the platform's CLDR data at build time.
Code Examples
// Basic number
new Intl.NumberFormat('en-ZA').format(1234567.89)
// → "1 234 567,89"
// Currency
new Intl.NumberFormat('en-ZA', {
style: 'currency',
currency: 'ZAR'
}).format(1234567.89)
// → "R 1 234 567,89"
// Percentage
new Intl.NumberFormat('en-ZA', {
style: 'percent',
minimumFractionDigits: 1
}).format(0.125)
// Compact notation
new Intl.NumberFormat('en-ZA', {
notation: 'compact'
}).format(1234567)Negative Number Formats
new Intl.NumberFormat('en-ZA').format(-1234567.89)new Intl.NumberFormat('en-ZA', { style: 'currency', currency: 'ZAR', currencySign: 'accounting' }).format(-1234567.89)Edge Cases & Notes
en-ZA uses comma as decimal — same as European format despite English language.
Continue your localization implementation
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Formatting implementation
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Failure patterns
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Standards reference
ISO country, currency, and language codes; BCP 47; E.164; and UPU S42.
Validation coverage
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Locale-aware numbers
Separators, grouping, currency precision, and Intl.NumberFormat patterns.
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Address and phone standards
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Currency reference
ISO 4217 codes, symbols, minor units, and implementation examples.
Address formats
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Phone formats
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