google-apps-script google-sheets string-formatting array-formulas number-formatting

ultimate short custom number formatting - K, M, B, T, etc., Q, D, Googol

is there a way how to custom format ridiculously large numbers (at least up to 10^100 in both ways) in google sheets:

thousands                > K
millions                 > M
billions                 > B
trillions                > T
etc...
negative quadrillions    > Q
decillions               > D

either via:

internal custom number formatting
formula (array formula ofc)
script similar to this one just extended to cover more ground

                                                            10000.1     10.0K
                                                                100    100.0 
                                                               1000      1.0K
                                                              10000     10.0K
                                                            -100000   -100.0K
                                                           45646454     45.6M
                                                      5654894844216      5.7T
                                                         4655454544      4.7B
                                                     46546465455511     46.5T
                                                    -46546465455511    -46.5T
4654646545551184854556546454454400000000000000000000000000010000000      4.7U
    
                                                         -1000.9999     -1.0K
                                                          -100.8989   -100.9 
                                                            -20.354    -20.4 
                                                               1.03      1.0 
                                                             22E+32      2.2D

Solution

internal custom number formatting solution:

sadly, the internal formatting in google sheets is by default able to work with only 3 types of numbers:

positive (1, 2, 5, 10, ...)
negative (-3, -9, -7, ...)
zero (0)

this can be tweaked to show custom formatting like thousands K, millions M and regular small numbers:

[>999999]0.0,,"M";[>999]0.0,"K";0

or only thousands K, millions M, billions B

[<999950]0.0,"K";[<999950000]0.0,,"M";0.0,,,"B"

or only negative thousands K, negative millions M, negative billions B

[>-999950]0.0,"K";[>-999950000]0.0,,"M";0.0,,,"B"

or only millions M, billions B, trillions T:

[<999950000]0.0,,"M";[<999950000000]0.0,,,"B";0.0,,,,"T"

or only numbers from negative million M to positive million M:

[>=999950]0.0,,"M";[<=-999950]0.0,,"M";0.0,"K"

but you always got only 3 slots you can use, meaning that you can't have trillions as the 4th type/slot. fyi, the 4th slot exists, but it's reserved for text. to learn more about internal formatting in google sheets see:

formula (array formula) solution:

the formula approach is more versatile... first, you will need to decide on the system/standard you want to use (American, European, Greek, International, Unofficial, etc...):

after that try:

=INDEX(REGEXREPLACE(IFNA(TEXT(A:A/10^(VLOOKUP(LEN(TEXT(INT(ABS(A:A)), "0"))-1, 
 SEQUENCE(35, 1,, 3), 1, 1)), "#.0")&VLOOKUP(ABS(A:A)*1, {{10^SEQUENCE(34, 1, 3, 3)}, 
 {"K  "; "M  "; "B  "; "T  "; "Qa "; "Qi "; "Sx "; "Sp "; "O  "; "N  "; "D  "; "Ud "; 
  "Dd "; "Td "; "Qad"; "Qid"; "Sxd"; "Spd"; "Od "; "Nd "; "V  "; "Uv "; "Dv "; "Tv "; 
  "Qav"; "Qiv"; "Sxv"; "Spv"; "Ov "; "Nv "; "Tr "; "Ut "; "Dt "; "Tt "}}, 2, 1), 
 IF(ISBLANK(A:A),, TEXT(A:A, "0.0   "))), "^0\.0   $", "0     "))

works with positive numbers
works with negative numbers
works with zero
works with decimal numbers
works with numeric values
works with plain text numbers
works with scientific notations
works with blank cells
works up to googol 10^104 in both ways

extra points if you are interested in how it works...

let's start with virtual array {{},{}}. SEQUENCE(34, 1, 3, 3) will give us 34 numbers in 1 column starting from number 3 with the step of 3 numbers:

these will be used as exponents while rising 10 on the power ^

so our virtual array will be:

next, we insert it as the 2nd argument of VLOOKUP where we check ABS absolute values (converting negative values into positive) of A column multiplied by *1 just in case values of A column are not numeric. via VLOOKUP we return the second 2 column and as the 4th argument, we use approximate mode 1

numbers from -999 to 999 will intentionally error out at this point so we could later use IFNA to "fix" our errors with IF(A:A=IF(,,),, TEXT(A:A, "#.0 ")) translated as: if range A:A is truly empty ISBLANK output nothing, else format A column with provided pattern #.0 eg. if cell A5 = empty, the output will be blank cell... if -999 < A5=50 < 999 the output will be 50.0

and the last part:

TEXT(A:A/10^(VLOOKUP(LEN(TEXT(INT(ABS(A:A)), "0"))-1, 
SEQUENCE(35, 1,, 3), 1, 1)), "#.0")

ABS(A:A) to convert negative numbers into positive. INT to remove decimal numbers if any. TEXT(, "0") to convert scientific notations 3E+8 into regular numbers 300000000. LEN to count digits. -1 to correct for base10 notation. VLOOKUP above-constructed number in SEQUENCE of 35 numbers in 1 column, this time starting from number 0 ,, with the step of 3 numbers. return via VLOOKUP the first 1 column (eg. the sequence) in approximate mode 1 of vlookup. insert this number as exponent when rising the 10 on power ^. and take values in A column and divide it by the above-constructed number 10 raised on the power ^ of a specific exponent. and lastly, format it with TEXT as #.0

to convert ugly 0.0 into beautiful 0 we just use REGEXREPLACE. and INDEX is used instead of the longer ARRAYFORMULA.

sidenote: to remove trailing spaces (which are there to add nice alignment lol) either remove them from the formula or use TRIM right after INDEX.

script solution:

gratitude to @TheMaster for covering this

here is a mod of it:

/**
 * formats various numbers according to the provided short format
 * @customfunction
 * @param {A1:C100} range a 2D array
 * @param {[X1:Y10]} database [optional] a real/virtual 2D array 
 * where the odd column holds exponent of base 10 
 * and the even column contains format suffixes
 * @param {[5]} value [optional] fix suffix to fixed length 
 * by padding spaces (only if the second parameter exists)
 */
// examples:
// =CSF(A1:A)
// =CSF(2:2; X5:Y10)
// =CSF(A1:3; G10:J30)
// =CSF(C:C; X:Y; 2)                        to use custom alignment
// =CSF(C:C; X:Y; 0)                        to remove alignment
// =INDEX(TRIM(CSF(A:A)))                   to remove alignment
// =CSF(B10:D30; {3\ "K"; 4\ "TK"})         for non-english sheets
// =CSF(E5, {2, "deci"; 3, "kilo"})         for english sheets
// =INDEX(IF(ISERR(A:A*1); A:A; CSF(A:A)))  to return non-numbers
// =INDEX(IF((ISERR(A:A*1))+(ISBLANK(A:A)), A:A, CSF(A:A*1)))  enforce mode
function CSF(
  range,
  database = [
    [3,   'K'  ], //Thousand
    [6,   'M'  ], //Million
    [9,   'B'  ], //Billion
    [12,  'T'  ], //Trillion
    [15,  'Qa' ], //Quadrillion
    [18,  'Qi' ], //Quintillion
    [21,  'Sx' ], //Sextillion
    [24,  'Sp' ], //Septillion
    [27,  'O'  ], //Octillion
    [30,  'N'  ], //Nonillion
    [33,  'D'  ], //Decillion
    [36,  'Ud' ], //Undecillion
    [39,  'Dd' ], //Duodecillion
    [42,  'Td' ], //Tredecillion
    [45,  'Qad'], //Quattuordecillion
    [48,  'Qid'], //Quindecillion
    [51,  'Sxd'], //Sexdecillion
    [54,  'Spd'], //Septendecillion
    [57,  'Od' ], //Octodecillion
    [60,  'Nd' ], //Novemdecillion
    [63,  'V'  ], //Vigintillion
    [66,  'Uv' ], //Unvigintillion
    [69,  'Dv' ], //Duovigintillion
    [72,  'Tv' ], //Trevigintillion
    [75,  'Qav'], //Quattuorvigintillion
    [78,  'Qiv'], //Quinvigintillion
    [81,  'Sxv'], //Sexvigintillion
    [84,  'Spv'], //Septenvigintillion
    [87,  'Ov' ], //Octovigintillion
    [90,  'Nv' ], //Novemvigintillion
    [93,  'Tr' ], //Trigintillion
    [96,  'Ut' ], //Untrigintillion
    [99,  'Dt' ], //Duotrigintillion
    [100, 'G'  ], //Googol
    [102, 'Tt' ], //Tretrigintillion or One Hundred Googol
  ],
  value = 3
) {
  if (
    database[database.length - 1] &&
    database[database.length - 1][0] !== 0
  ) {
    database = database.reverse();
    database.push([0, '']);
  }
  const addSuffix = num => {
    const pad3 = (str = '') => str.padEnd(value, ' ');
    const decim = 1              // round to decimal places
    const separ = 0              // separate number and suffix
    const anum = Math.abs(num);
    if (num === 0) 
     return '0' + ' ' + ' '.repeat(separ) + ' '.repeat(decim) + pad3();
    if (anum > 0 && anum < 1) 
     return String(num.toFixed(decim)) + ' '.repeat(separ) + pad3();
    for (const [exp, suffix] of database) {
      if (anum >= Math.pow(10, exp))
        return `${(num / Math.pow(10, exp)).toFixed(decim)
         }${' '.repeat(separ) + pad3(suffix)}`;
    }
  };
  return customFunctionRecurse_(
    range, CSF, addSuffix, database, value, true
  );
}
function customFunctionRecurse_(
  array, mainFunc, subFunc, ...extraArgToMainFunc
) {
  if (Array.isArray(array))
    return array.map(e => mainFunc(e, ...extraArgToMainFunc));
  else return subFunc(array);
}

sidenote 1: this script does not need to be authorized priorly to usage
sidenote 2: cell formatting needs to be set to Automatic or Number otherwise use enforce mode

ultimate short custom number formatting - K, M, B, T, etc., Q, D, Googol

internal custom number formatting solution:

formula (array formula) solution:

script solution:

extra: