Shape · Columns

Format to Text

Turns a number, date or time column into formatted text: thousands separators, fixed decimals, currency or a date pattern. The pattern can come from another column, row by row. Unlike Format Table, this changes the data.

Also known as: Number to text, format as text

How it works

Click Add rule, pick the Column and choose How. Format takes the same options as Format Table and prints a value that does not fit the format as its plain text. Pattern takes one DuckDB pattern: printf for numbers, such as %,.2f for 1,234.57, or strftime for dates and times, such as %d/%m/%Y. Per row reads each row's own pattern from the Pattern column. Read the pattern as is By type by default, or Number or Date/time when you want to force the language. A blank pattern gives the plain text, a null gives null, and a pattern that cannot render a value fails the run. Output column blank replaces the column in place; the result is text either way.

Inputs and outputs

Settings

rules: [{ column: string, outputColumn?: string, mode: "format"|"pattern"|"patternColumn", format?: { type?: "number"|"currency"|"percent"|"date"|"text", decimals?: number, separator?: "comma"|"dot"|"space"|"none", currencyCode?: string, negative?: "minus"|"parens", mask?: string }, pattern?: string, patternColumn?: string, kind?: "auto"|"number"|"datetime" }]  // the result is text. mode "format" takes the same format spec as Format Table. mode "pattern" takes a DuckDB printf / strftime pattern: printf for numbers, e.g. "%,.2f" gives 1,234,567.89, strftime for dates and times, e.g. "%d/%m/%Y"; a blank pattern gives the plain text. mode "patternColumn" reads each row's pattern from patternColumn. kind picks printf or strftime (default "auto": by the column type). A blank outputColumn replaces the column in place.

Example

An invoice file needs amount as 1,234.57 and issued as 05/03/2026, exactly as text. Add a Pattern rule on amount with %,.2f and one on issued with %d/%m/%Y, leaving both output columns blank.

More in Columns

• Select Columns — Keeps only the columns you pick and drops the rest.
• Rename — Gives columns new names. Type old-to-new pairs, or let the data decide at run time: take the names from the first row (which is then dropped), from a names table on a second input, or from an expression over each old name.
• Cast Types — Changes a column's type, such as text to number or text to date. You choose what happens to a value that won't convert: stop the run, or make it blank with or without a warning.
• Parse — Turns messy text into real values: dates and times, numbers with separators or currency signs, true/false, durations, measurements with units, and coordinates.
• Add Column — Adds a column worked out by a formula, a fixed value, today's date or the current time, or a parameter. For example, margin = Price − Cost. Excel's finance functions such as PMT work here by name; see Formulas and finance functions.
• Multi-field Formula — Applies one formula to many columns at once, such as rounding every price column. Overwrite the columns or write new ones beside them.
• Multi-row Formula — Works out a column from the current row and its neighbours, including the column's own value on the previous row. Use it for fill-down, running totals or carrying the last value forward.
• Fill Missing — Replaces blanks with a fixed value, an empty string, or the previous or next value, or drops those rows. It can also drop rows or columns that are entirely empty.
• Replace Values — Swaps text in a column for other text, such as 'N/A' to blank or 'NY' to 'New York'. Each rule replaces its text wherever it appears in a value, as plain text or a pattern.
• Replace via Mapping — Swaps values in one or more columns using a second table of from → to pairs, such as a code list turning 'NY' into 'New York'. Values with no match stay as they are, or fail the run if you choose.
• Interpolate NULLs — Fills blank numbers by estimating from the known values around them, in a straight line or by taking the nearest one. For example, missing sensor readings.
• Clip Values — Caps numbers at a lower and/or upper bound. Anything below becomes the minimum, anything above becomes the maximum.
• Bin — Turns a number into a labelled band, using your own break points or equal-width buckets. For example, ages into 0–17, 18–64 and 65+.
• Format Table — Sets how columns print in previews and reports: currency, percent, decimals, thousands separators, date masks, alignment and hidden columns. The values themselves don't change.
• Audit Stamp — Adds columns that record when the row was loaded, from which source, and in which run. Use it before writing to a warehouse so you can trace every row.