Decimal separator

The langconfig file is an important file in a language pack, dealing with all the configuration parameters of that language, including the decimal separator.

The original Moodle code in English uses a decimal point as a separator, but some countries (and their language packs) might use a decimal comma.

Countries where a dot "." is used as decimal mark:

• Australia
• Bangladesh
• Botswana
• British West Indies
• Brunei
• Canada (when using English)
• China, People's Republic of
• Dominican Republic
• Egypt
• Ghana
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Hong Kong
• India
• Ireland
• Israel
• Japan
• Jordan
• Kenya
• Korea (both North and South)
• Lebanon
• Luxembourg (uses both marks officially)
• Macau (in Chinese and English text)
• Malaysia
• Malta
• Mexico
• Mongolia
• Nepal
• New Zealand
• Nicaragua
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Palestine
• Panama
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Tanzania
• Thailand
• Uganda
• United Kingdom
• United States (including insular areas)
• Zimbabwe

Countries where a comma "," is used as decimal mark:

• Albania
• Algeria
• Andorra
• Angola
• Argentina
• Armenia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Bolivia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Brazil
• Bulgaria
• Cameroon
• Canada (when using French)
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Croatia (comma used officially, but both forms are in use)
• Cuba
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• East Timor
• Ecuador
• Estonia
• Faroes
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Georgia
• Greece
• Greenland
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Indonesia
• Italy
• Kazakhstan
• Kosovo
• Kyrgyzstan
• Latvia
• Lebanon
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg (uses both marks officially)
• Macau (in Portuguese text)
• Macedonia
• Moldova
• Mongolia
• Morocco
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Russia
• Serbia
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• South Africa
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Sweden
• Tunisia
• Turkey
• Ukraine
• Uruguay
• Uzbekistan
• Venezuela
• Vietnam

If a language pack uses a comma (,) as a decimal separator, it must use a semicolon (;) as a list separator, or serious errors might happen.

Problems with language packs using a decimal comma

It is not uncommon for Moodle users with a language pack that has a comma used as a decimal separator to experience problems when using formulas copied from the Moodle English online and built-in documentation.

Gradebook problems

The Gradebook calculations might use "=average(item1, item2, item3, item4, item5, item6)" which is easy to understand and use in English, but a teacher with (for example) the international spanish (es) language pack will strugle until he/she realizes that this formula should be changed to "=average(item1; item2; item3; item4; item5; item6)"

Problem fixing

A Moodle adminer who uses a language pack with a decimal comma must check the langconfig file and make sure that the decsep, listsep and thounsandsep characters are properly set for the language or use the customization to fix his/her server.

...to be continued...