number format in pgfplots axis

Question

How can I change the type of the decimal/thousand separator from the american one to the european one? More precisely, I want:

• "1000" to be written as is, instead of "1,000"
• "0,1" instead of "0.1"

Answer 1

The number formatting is changed using the /pgf/number format keys, which are described starting on page 546 of the pgfmanual. In your case, you would want to set /pgf/number format/use comma to set the comma as the decimal separator, and /pgf/number format/1000 sep={} to suppress separators for the groups of thousands.

When setting several subkeys, you can save yourself a bit of typing by first changing to the main key using /pgf/number format/.cd, and then setting the number formats.

Since I assume you want the number format to be consistent all through your plot, you should set the options for the whole axis.

Here's an example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}


\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
    /pgf/number format/.cd,
        use comma,
        1000 sep={}]
\addplot +[domain=0:1] {(x+rnd)*4000};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Edit: As per Jake's comments: using set decimal separator={,} instead of use comma introduces an unwanted thin space after the comma. Interestingly, if you use set decimal separator={.}, this doesn't happen. So, better to use use comma instead as per Jake's solution.

---

Use set thousands separator={} and set decimal separator={,} which yields:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
      y tick label style={/pgf/number format/.cd,%
          scaled y ticks = false,
          set thousands separator={},
          fixed},
      x tick label style={/pgf/number format/.cd,%
          scaled x ticks = false,
          set decimal separator={,},
          fixed}%
     ]
  \addplot coordinates {
  (0.1,1000)
  (0.2,1100)
  (0.3,1200)
  };    
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}