How to limit decimal numbers in Python?

Question:

How do I format the number of decimal places of a decimal number in Python?

For example, I want to display only two decimal places of the following number:

numero_decimal = 3.141592653589793

How could I transform this number to 3.14 ?

Answer:

Rounded

If rounding:

round(3.141592653589793, 2)

Which is what happens when you do something like that.

"%.2f" % 3.141592653589793

truncating

In this case, you need more care, as the lack of a dedicated function forces you to compose a manual solution.

This simple function works well in everyday life:

def trunc(num, digits):
   sp = str(num).split('.')
   return '.'.join([sp[0], sp[:digits]])

This one works on 2 and 3 and takes into account exponential notation, for more complex scenarios:

def truncate(f, n):
    '''Truncates/pads a float f to n decimal places without rounding'''
    s = '{}'.format(f)
    if 'e' in s or 'E' in s:
        return '{0:.{1}f}'.format(f, n)
    i, p, d = s.partition('.')
    return '.'.join([i, (d+'0'*n)[:n]])

Codes used from here:

https://stackoverflow.com/q/783897/916193

Note: for those who don't know the difference:

• When rounding 3.19999 to 2 decimals the result is 3.20 ;

• When truncating 3.19999 to 2 decimals the result is 3.19 .