User-level locale module. A wrapper around _locale which adds

format(), str(), atof(), and atoi().  The last three are locale
sensitive versions of the corresponding standard functions (only for
numbers though); format() does general %[efg] formatting taking the
locale into account, optionally with thousands grouping.

Lib/locale.py

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+"Support for number formatting using the current locale settings"
+
+from _locale import *
+import string
+
+#perform the grouping from right to left
+def _group(s):
+    conv=localeconv()
+    grouping=conv['grouping']
+    if not grouping:return s
+    result=""
+    while s and grouping:
+	# if grouping is -1, we are done 
+	if grouping[0]==CHAR_MAX:
+	    break
+	# 0: re-use last group ad infinitum
+	elif grouping[0]!=0:
+	    #process last group
+	    group=grouping[0]
+	    grouping=grouping[1:]
+	if result:
+	    result=s[-group:]+conv['thousands_sep']+result
+	else:
+	    result=s[-group:]
+	s=s[:-group]
+    if s and result:
+	result=s+conv['thousands_sep']+result
+    return result
+
+def format(f,val,grouping=0):
+    """Formats a value in the same way that the % formatting would use,
+    but takes the current locale into account. 
+    Grouping is applied if the third parameter is true."""
+    result = f % val
+    fields = string.splitfields(result,".")
+    if grouping:
+	fields[0]=_group(fields[0])
+    if len(fields)==2:
+	return fields[0]+localeconv()['decimal_point']+fields[1]
+    elif len(fields)==1:
+	return fields[0]
+    else:
+	raise Error,"Too many decimal points in result string"
+    
+def str(val):
+    """Convert float to integer, taking the locale into account."""
+    return format("%.12g",val)
+
+def atof(str,func=string.atof):
+    "Parses a string as a float according to the locale settings."
+    #First, get rid of the grouping
+    s=string.splitfields(str,localeconv()['thousands_sep'])
+    str=string.join(s,"")
+    #next, replace the decimal point with a dot
+    s=string.splitfields(str,localeconv()['decimal_point'])
+    str=string.join(s,'.')
+    #finally, parse the string
+    return func(str)
+
+def atoi(str):
+    "Converts a string to an integer according to the locale settings."
+    return atof(str,string.atoi)
+
+def test():
+    setlocale(LC_ALL,"")
+    #do grouping
+    s1=format("%d",123456789,1)
+    print s1,"is",atoi(s1)
+    #standard formatting
+    s1=str(3.14)
+    print s1,"is",atof(s1)
+    
+
+if __name__=='__main__':
+    test()