If I convert a number in FRANCE/FRENCH locale it should use space as thousands separator. If I try to replace the spaces with some other characters, it does not find any space.
String input = NumberFormat.getNumberInstance(Locale.FRANCE).format(123123123);
System.out.println("String after conversion in locale "+input);
input = input.replace(" ", ".");
System.out.println("After replace space with dot "+input);
OUTPUT
String after conversion in locale 123 123 123
After replace space with dot 123 123 123
So though separator looks like space it is something different. What is the exact character ? How can I specify that character in input.replace() so that I can replace it with dot ?
It is \u00a0
the non-breaking space, which makes sense for an amount. (Imagine € 40 at the end of a line, and the next starting with 000.) The same holds for some other languages.
input = input.replace('\u00a0', '.');
As suggested by Joop Eggen in his answer It is \u00a0
the non-breaking space.
As a work around, I got the thousand separator as follows
String input = NumberFormat.getNumberInstance(Locale.FRANCE).format(123123123);
System.out.println("String after conversion in locale "+input);
DecimalFormat df = (DecimalFormat) NumberFormat.getNumberInstance(Locale.FRANCE);
DecimalFormatSymbols symbols = df.getDecimalFormatSymbols();
char thousandSep = symbols.getGroupingSeparator();
input = input.replace(thousandSep, '.');
It worked as expected
String after conversion in locale 123 123 123
After replace space with dot 123.123.123