[Python-3000] Adding 'n' format presentation type to integers

[Eric Smith]

Eric Smith wrote:
> 'n' is like 'g', but adds locale-specific thousands separators.
> 
> Issue 2802 (http://bugs.python.org/issue2802) points out that 'n' 
> formatting isn't useful for integers, because it first converts to 
> float.  There's no way to get 1,000,000 as a result, since 'g' converts 
> to '1e+06'.
> 
> I propose adding 'n' as an integer format presentation type to PEP 3101. 
>  The definition would be:
> 
> 'n' - Number. This is the same as 'd', except that it uses the
>               current locale setting to insert the appropriate
>               number separator characters.
> 
> I already have the C code needed to implement this in Python/pystrtod.c 
> (for floats), so it would just take some refactoring to get the integer 
> formatter to use it.
> 
> If there is agreement, I'll update the PEP and implement this in 2.6 and 
> 3.0.

Having heard no objections, I'll update the PEP and check in the change.

Eric.