Python passing format specifier in

Question

I have a string variable containing .10 I would like to format it to print out 0.10. Is there a way I could somehow pass the desired string format to the variable and the variable formats accordingly.

ex.

.10 becomes 0.10 (formatting 0.00)
.10 becomes 0.100 (formatting 0.000)
50.10 becomes 50.1 (formatting 0.0)

the version of python that I use is 2.4.

Mark Tolonen · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-14 01:31:20Z

2

If you want the formatting to be variable:

>>> '%.*f' % (1,.1)
'0.1'
>>> '%.*f' % (2,.1)
'0.10'
>>> '%.*f' % (3,.1)
'0.100'
>>> '%*.*f' % (5,3,.1)
'0.100'
>>> '%*.*f' % (5,2,.1)
' 0.10'
>>> '%*.*f' % (5,1,.1)
'  0.1'

Reference: Python 2.4.4, §2.3.6.2 String Formatting Operations

edited Sep 14, 2012 at 1:31

answered Sep 14, 2012 at 1:25

Mark Tolonen

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Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-14 00:56:43Z

1

>>> '%.2f' % (float('.10'),)
'0.10'

answered Sep 14, 2012 at 0:56

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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2 Comments

David S Over a year ago

For python 2.4, this is correct, but I don't think you need to put it in a tuple... Just for future users, if you are using 2.6 or later, it is better to use str.format -- as I believe this style of formatting is now deprecated.

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Over a year ago

You don't need to put non-tuple values in a tuple; this is simply force of habit for me.

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