Custom number formatting | Equals Help Center

With custom number formatting you can change how your data is displayed. For example, you can set all negative numbers in parentheses or add your currency symbol to spend data. To apply a custom number format to a selection on your sheet, click on Format in your workbook's menu bar.

This will open up a familiar looking console where you can configure how your data should be presented. You'll write a set of rules in the console that will be applied to the data on your sheet. You can specify as many rules as you need. Clicking on "Templates" you'll be able to browse common formattings that you can use as a starting point.

Syntax for setting formats

To use colors in your format, write a color name in brackets (for example, [Blue]) anywhere in the desired part of the format. You must use English color names. The colors that can be used are white, red, blue, green, magenta, yellow, and cyan. You can also use Color#, where the # symbol is a number between 1 and 56 corresponding to the 56 Excel ColorIndex colors. If you specify a color in the custom format, that color will take precedence over colors selected in the text color picker.

The following symbols can be used to format numbers:

Symbol	Result	Example
`0`	Digit or Zero	`2` formatted with `00` will show `"02"`
`#`	Digit if needed	`2` formatted with `##` will show `"2"`
`?`	Digit or Space	`2` formatted with `??` will show `" 2"`
`.`	Decimal point	`1.345` formatted with `#.#` will show `1.3`
`,`	Thousands separator	`1345` formatted with `#,##0` will show `"1,345"`.
`%`	Percentage	Number is multiplied by 100 before it is shown. `0.3` formatted with `0%` will show `"30%"`
`e-`, `e+`	Exponential format	`12200000` formatted with `0.00E+00` will emit `"1.22E+07"`
`"text"`	Pass-through	Pass through whatever text is inside the quotation marks as-is. `2` formatted with `0 "USD"` will show `"2 USD"`
`\`	Escape	Pass the the next character through as-is.
`$`, `-`, `+`, `/`, `(`, `)`,	Pass-through	These symbols are printed as-is, without the need to use quotations or escape characters.
`@`	Text value	When value is non-numeric, show it as is: `two` formatted with `"one"@"three"` will emit `"onetwothree"`

Given a number representation of a date, you can also format dates and times:

Symbol	Result	Example
`yy`	Two digit year	23
`yyyy`	Four digit year	2023
`m`	Month	1
`mm`	Two digit month	01
`mmm`	Month name abbreviation	Jan
`mmmm`	Full month name	January
`mmmmm`	Single letter month abbreviation	J
`d`	Days	1–31
`dd`	Days	01–31
`ddd`	Weekday abbreviation	Wed
`dddd`	Full weekday name	Wednesday
`h`	Hours	0–23 or 1–12
`hh`	Hours	00–23 or 01–12
`m`	Minutes	0–59
`mm`	Minutes	00–59
`s`	Seconds	0–59
`ss`	Seconds	00–59
`AM/PM`	12h clock	Sets clock to 12h and emits AM or PM.
`A/P`	12h clock	Sets clock to 12h and emits A or P.
`[h]`	Hours	Elapsed time in hours
`[m]`	Minutes	Elapsed time in minutes
`[s]`	Seconds	Elapsed time in seconds

Conditional formatting