.NET: Are there any differences between InvariantCulture and en-US?

Question

Given the following two cultures:

CultureInfo c1 = InvariantCulture; CultureInfo c2 = new CultureInfo("en-US"); 

and i were to examine every piece of information specific to both cultures, e.g.:

c1.DateTimeInfo.ShortDatePattern; c2.DateTimeInfo.ShortDatePattern;  c1.DateTimeInfo.LongDatePattern; c2.DateTimeInfo.LongDatePattern;  c1.NumberFormat.CurrencyDecimalDigits; c2.NumberFormat.CurrencyDecimalDigits;  c1.TextInfo.IsRightToLeft; c2.TextInfo.IsRightToLeft; 

Would i find any differences?

In other words, is the InvariantCulture, for all purposes, identical to the "en-US" culture?

Answer 1

Yes.

For example: InvariantCulture uses the international symbol for currency: "¤" versus the dollar sign: "$" when formatting currency.

For the most part, however, they're very similar.

Answer 2

There are some actual differences (check both values in a Watch window), but the most relevant difference is the intent. InvariantCulture shows your intent of parsing some data in a culture independent, if english related, manner, whereas en-US declares your actual intent to parse data in a US specific manner.