title: using ansi sql syntax for formatting Numeric
body: <p>I am using two different databases for my project, 
  Oracle and Apache Derby, and am trying  as much as possible to use the ANSI SQL syntax supported by both of the databases.</p>
  
  <p>I have a table with a column     <code>amount_paid NUMERIC(26,2)</code>.</p>
  
  <p>My old code, which was using Oracle db, needed to retrieve value in this format </p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT LTRIM(TO_CHAR(amount_paid,'9,999,999,999,999.99'))
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How can I convert a numeric value to such a string in the format '9,999,999,999,999.99' using ANSI sql syntax?</p>