Digit placeholder. For example, if you type 8.9 and you want it to display as 8.90, then use the format #.00

Digit placeholder. Follows the same rules as the 0 symbol except Excel does not display extra zeros when the number you type has fewer digits on either side of the decimal than there are # symbols in the format. For example, if the custom format is #.## and you type 8.9 in the cell, the number 8.9 is displayed.

Digit placeholder. Follows the same rules as the 0 symbol except Excel places a space for insignificant zeros on either side of the decimal point so that decimal points are aligned in the column. For example, the custom format 0.0? aligns the decimal points for the numbers 8.9 and 88.99 in a column.

Decimal point.

Percentage. If you enter a number between 0 and 1, and you use the custom format 0%, Excel multiplies the number by 100 and adds the % symbol in the cell.

Thousands separator. Excel separates thousands by commas if the format contains a comma surrounded by '#'s or '0's. A comma following a placeholder scales the number by a thousand. For example, if the format is #.0,, and you type 12,200,000 in the cell, the number 12.2 is displayed.

Scientific format. Excel displays a number to the right of the "E" symbol that corresponds to the number of places the decimal point was moved. For example, if the format is 0.00E+00 and you type 12,200,000 in the cell, the number 1.22E+07 is displayed. If you change the number format to #0.0E+0 the number 12.2E+6 is displayed.

Displays the symbol. If you want to display a character that is different than one of these symbols, precede the character with a backslash (\) or enclose the character in quotation marks (" ").

Display the next character in the format. Excel does not display the backslash. For example, if the number format is 0\! and you type 3 in the cell, the value 3! is displayed.

Repeat the next character in the format enough times to fill the column to its current width. You cannot have more than one asterisk in one section of the format. For example, if the number format is 0*x and you type 3 in the cell, the value 3xxxxxx is displayed. Note, the number of "x" characters displayed in the cell vary based on the width of the column.

Skip the width of the next character. This is useful for lining up negative and positive values in different cells of the same column. For example, the number format _(0.0_);(0.0) align the numbers 2.3 and -4.5 in the column even though the negative number has parentheses around it.

Display whatever text is inside the quotation marks. For example, the format 0.00 "dollars" displays "1.23 dollars" (without quotation marks) when you type 1.23 into the cell.