Custom locale configuration for float conversion

Question

I need to convert a string in the format \"1.234.345,00\" to the float value 1234345.00.

One way is to use repeated str.repl

Answer 1

There are two parts in your question:

1. How can I parse '1.234.345,00' in a generic way?
2. How can I easily find the locale associated to '1.234.345,00'?

You can use the amazing Babel library for both.

How can I parse '1.234.345,00' in a generic way?

One locale associated with a . thousands separator and a , decimal separator is ger_de, for German.

To parse it, simply use

>>> from babel.numbers import parse_decimal
>>> parse_decimal('1.234.345,00', locale='ger_de')
Decimal('1234345.00')

How can I easily find the locale associated to '1.234.345,00'?

Use this routine which checks the string to parse against the expected value for all locales, and returns the ones that are compatible:

import locale
from babel.numbers import parse_decimal
from decimal import Decimal

def get_compatible_locales(string_to_parse, expected_decimal):
    compatible_aliases = []
    for alias in locale.locale_alias:
        try:
            parsed_decimal = parse_decimal(string_to_parse, locale=alias)
            if parsed_decimal == expected_decimal:
                compatible_aliases.append(alias)
        except Exception:
            continue
    return compatible_aliases

For your example:

>>> print(get_compatible_locales('1.234.345,00', Decimal('1234345')))
['ar_dz', 'ar_lb', 'ar_ly', 'ar_ma', 'ar_tn', 'ast_es', 'az', 'az_az', 'az_az.iso88599e', 'bs', 'bs_ba', 'ca', 'ca_ad', 'ca_es', 'ca_es@valencia', 'ca_fr', 'ca_it', 'da', 'da_dk', 'de', 'de_at', 'de_be', 'de_de', 'de_lu', 'el', 'el_cy', 'el_gr', 'el_gr@euro', 'en_be', 'en_dk', 'es', 'es_ar', 'es_bo', 'es_cl', 'es_co', 'es_ec', 'es_es', 'es_py', 'es_uy', 'es_ve', 'eu', 'eu_es', 'fo', 'fo_fo', 'fr_lu', 'fy_nl', 'ger_de', 'gl', 'gl_es', 'hr', 'hr_hr', 'hsb_de', 'id', 'id_id', 'in', 'in_id', 'is', 'is_is', 'it', 'it_it', 'kl', 'kl_gl', 'km_kh', 'lb_lu', 'lo', 'lo_la', 'lo_la.cp1133', 'lo_la.ibmcp1133', 'lo_la.mulelao1', 'mk', 'mk_mk', 'nl', 'nl_aw', 'nl_be', 'nl_nl', 'ps_af', 'pt', 'pt_br', 'ro', 'ro_ro', 'rw', 'rw_rw', 'sl', 'sl_si', 'sr', 'sr@cyrillic', 'sr@latn', 'sr_cs', 'sr_cs.iso88592@latn', 'sr_cs@latn', 'sr_me', 'sr_rs', 'sr_rs@latn', 'sr_yu', 'sr_yu.cp1251@cyrillic', 'sr_yu.iso88592', 'sr_yu.iso88595', 'sr_yu.iso88595@cyrillic', 'sr_yu.microsoftcp1251@cyrillic', 'sr_yu.utf8', 'sr_yu.utf8@cyrillic', 'sr_yu@cyrillic', 'tr', 'tr_cy', 'tr_tr', 'vi', 'vi_vn', 'vi_vn.tcvn', 'vi_vn.tcvn5712', 'vi_vn.viscii', 'vi_vn.viscii111', 'wo_sn']

Bonus: How can I have a human-readable version of these locales?

Use the following routine, where my_locale should be your own locale:

from babel import Locale

def get_display_name(alias, my_locale='en_US'):
    l = Locale.parse(alias)
    return l.get_display_name(my_locale)

You can then use it this way:

>>> print({loc: get_display_name(loc) for loc in locales})
{'ar_dz': 'Arabic (Algeria)', 'ar_lb': 'Arabic (Lebanon)', 'ar_ly': 'Arabic (Libya)', 'ar_ma': 'Arabic (Morocco)', 'ar_tn': 'Arabic (Tunisia)', 'ast_es': 'Asturian (Spain)', 'az': 'Azerbaijani', 'az_az': 'Azerbaijani (Latin, Azerbaijan)', 'az_az.iso88599e': 'Azerbaijani (Latin, Azerbaijan)', 'bs': 'Bosnian', 'bs_ba': 'Bosnian (Latin, Bosnia & Herzegovina)', 'ca': 'Catalan', 'ca_ad': 'Catalan (Andorra)', 'ca_es': 'Catalan (Spain)', 'ca_es@valencia': 'Catalan (Spain)', 'ca_fr': 'Catalan (France)', 'ca_it': 'Catalan (Italy)', 'da': 'Danish', 'da_dk': 'Danish (Denmark)', 'de': 'German', 'de_at': 'German (Austria)', 'de_be': 'German (Belgium)', 'de_de': 'German (Germany)', 'de_lu': 'German (Luxembourg)', 'el': 'Greek', 'el_cy': 'Greek (Cyprus)', 'el_gr': 'Greek (Greece)', 'el_gr@euro': 'Greek (Greece)', 'en_be': 'English (Belgium)', 'en_dk': 'English (Denmark)', 'es': 'Spanish', 'es_ar': 'Spanish (Argentina)', 'es_bo': 'Spanish (Bolivia)', 'es_cl': 'Spanish (Chile)', 'es_co': 'Spanish (Colombia)', 'es_ec': 'Spanish (Ecuador)', 'es_es': 'Spanish (Spain)', 'es_py': 'Spanish (Paraguay)', 'es_uy': 'Spanish (Uruguay)', 'es_ve': 'Spanish (Venezuela)', 'eu': 'Basque', 'eu_es': 'Basque (Spain)', 'fo': 'Faroese', 'fo_fo': 'Faroese (Faroe Islands)', 'fr_lu': 'French (Luxembourg)', 'fy_nl': 'Western Frisian (Netherlands)', 'ger_de': 'German (Germany)', 'gl': 'Galician', 'gl_es': 'Galician (Spain)', 'hr': 'Croatian', 'hr_hr': 'Croatian (Croatia)', 'hsb_de': 'Upper Sorbian (Germany)', 'id': 'Indonesian', 'id_id': 'Indonesian (Indonesia)', 'in': 'Indonesian (Indonesia)', 'in_id': 'Indonesian (Indonesia)', 'is': 'Icelandic', 'is_is': 'Icelandic (Iceland)', 'it': 'Italian', 'it_it': 'Italian (Italy)', 'kl': 'Kalaallisut', 'kl_gl': 'Kalaallisut (Greenland)', 'km_kh': 'Khmer (Cambodia)', 'lb_lu': 'Luxembourgish (Luxembourg)', 'lo': 'Lao', 'lo_la': 'Lao (Laos)', 'lo_la.cp1133': 'Lao (Laos)', 'lo_la.ibmcp1133': 'Lao (Laos)', 'lo_la.mulelao1': 'Lao (Laos)', 'mk': 'Macedonian', 'mk_mk': 'Macedonian (Macedonia)', 'nl': 'Dutch', 'nl_aw': 'Dutch (Aruba)', 'nl_be': 'Dutch (Belgium)', 'nl_nl': 'Dutch (Netherlands)', 'ps_af': 'Pashto (Afghanistan)', 'pt': 'Portuguese', 'pt_br': 'Portuguese (Brazil)', 'ro': 'Romanian', 'ro_ro': 'Romanian (Romania)', 'rw': 'Kinyarwanda', 'rw_rw': 'Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)', 'sl': 'Slovenian', 'sl_si': 'Slovenian (Slovenia)', 'sr': 'Serbian', 'sr@cyrillic': 'Serbian', 'sr@latn': 'Serbian', 'sr_cs': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_cs.iso88592@latn': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_cs@latn': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_me': 'Serbian (Latin, Montenegro)', 'sr_rs': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_rs@latn': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu.cp1251@cyrillic': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu.iso88592': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu.iso88595': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu.iso88595@cyrillic': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu.microsoftcp1251@cyrillic': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu.utf8': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu.utf8@cyrillic': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'sr_yu@cyrillic': 'Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)', 'tr': 'Turkish', 'tr_cy': 'Turkish (Cyprus)', 'tr_tr': 'Turkish (Turkey)', 'vi': 'Vietnamese', 'vi_vn': 'Vietnamese (Vietnam)', 'vi_vn.tcvn': 'Vietnamese (Vietnam)', 'vi_vn.tcvn5712': 'Vietnamese (Vietnam)', 'vi_vn.viscii': 'Vietnamese (Vietnam)', 'vi_vn.viscii111': 'Vietnamese (Vietnam)', 'wo_sn': 'Wolof (Senegal)'}

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