from django.conf import settings

def format(number, decimal_sep, decimal_pos, grouping=0, thousand_sep=''):
    """
    Gets a number (as a number or string), and returns it as a string,
    using formats definied as arguments:

    * decimal_sep: Decimal separator symbol (for example ".")
    * decimal_pos: Number of decimal positions
    * grouping: Number of digits in every group limited by thousand separator
    * thousand_sep: Thousand separator symbol (for example ",")

    """
    # sign
    if float(number) < 0:
        sign = '-'
    else:
        sign = ''
    # decimal part
    str_number = unicode(number)
    if str_number[0] == '-':
        str_number = str_number[1:]
    if '.' in str_number:
        int_part, dec_part = str_number.split('.')
        if decimal_pos:
            dec_part = dec_part[:decimal_pos]
    else:
        int_part, dec_part = str_number, ''
    if decimal_pos:
        dec_part = dec_part + ('0' * (decimal_pos - len(dec_part)))
    if dec_part: dec_part = decimal_sep + dec_part
    # grouping
    if settings.USE_L10N and settings.USE_THOUSAND_SEPARATOR and grouping:
        int_part_gd = ''
        for cnt, digit in enumerate(int_part[::-1]):
            if cnt and not cnt % grouping:
                int_part_gd += thousand_sep
            int_part_gd += digit
        int_part = int_part_gd[::-1]

    return sign + int_part + dec_part

