Learn how to use number formats to change the appearance of numbers, dates, and times in Excel without affecting the cell value. Find out how to create custom number formats with four sections of code and examples of different formats.

Display numbers as postal codes, Social Security numbers, or phone numbers. If a built-in number format does not meet your needs, you can create a new custom number format that is based on an existing number format and add it to the list of custom number formats.

To see the number format code for a built-in number format, click the Custom category, and look in the Type box. For example, the code [<=9999999]###-####;(###) ###-#### is used to display the phone number (555) 555-1234. For more information, see Create or delete a custom number format.

A number format can have up to four sections of code, separated by semicolons. These code sections define the format for positive numbers, negative numbers, zero values, and text, in that order. <POSITIVE>;<NEGATIVE>;<ZERO>;<TEXT>. For example, you can use these code sections to create the following custom format:

To see the number format code for a built-in number format, click the Custom category, and look in the Type box. For example, the code [<=9999999]###-####; (###) ###-#### is used to display the phone number (555) 555-1234. For more information, see Create or delete a custom number format. Top of Page.