Question

Is there an easy way in PowerShell to format numbers and the like in another locale? I’m currently writing a few functions to ease SVG generation for me and SVG uses . as a decimal separator, while PowerShell honors my locale settings (de-DE) when converting floating-point numbers to strings.

Is there an easy way to set another locale for a function or so without sticking

.ToString((New-Object Globalization.CultureInfo ""))

after every double variable?

Note: This is about the locale used for formatting, not the format string.

(Side question: Should I use the invariant culture in that case or rather en-US?)

ETA: Well, what I’m trying here is something like the following:

function New-SvgWave([int]$HalfWaves, [double]$Amplitude, [switch]$Upwards) {
    "<path d='M0,0q0.5,{0} 1,0{1}v1q-0.5,{2} -1,0{3}z'/>" -f (
        $(if ($Upwards) {-$Amplitude} else {$Amplitude}),
        ("t1,0" * ($HalfWaves - 1)),
        $(if ($Upwards -xor ($HalfWaves % 2 -eq 0)) {-$Amplitude} else {$Amplitude}),
        ("t-1,0" * ($HalfWaves - 1))
    )
}

Just a little automation for stuff I tend to write all the time and the double values need to use the decimal point instead of a comma (which they use in my locale).

ETA2: Interesting trivia to add:

PS Home:> $d=1.23
PS Home:> $d
1,23
PS Home:> "$d"
1.23

By putting the variable into a string the set locale doesn’t seem to apply, somehow.

Answer 1

This is a PowerShell function I use for testing script in other cultures. I believe it could be used for what you are after:

function Using-Culture ([System.Globalization.CultureInfo]$culture =(throw "USAGE: Using-Culture -Culture culture -Script {scriptblock}"),
                        [ScriptBlock]$script=(throw "USAGE: Using-Culture -Culture culture -Script {scriptblock}"))
{    
    $OldCulture = [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentCulture
    $OldUICulture = [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture
    try {
        [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = $culture
        [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = $culture        
        Invoke-Command $script    
    }    
    finally {        
        [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = $OldCulture        
        [System.Threading.Thread]::CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = $OldUICulture    
    }    
}

PS> $res = Using-Culture fr-FR { 1.1 }
PS> $res
1.1