Formatting Numbers in Python

.format() is a good way to format numbers. A good reference is PyFormat.

For example, we can use scientific notation.

print "{:e}".format(9887.2)

will give us

9.887200e+03

A quick and minimal version of what has been said is

1. {:04.2f} means make the total length of the number 4, with 2 significance digits and using 0’s to fill up the other slots if the number is not long enough.
2. It’s not necessary to put in all the specifications.
3. d, f, e can be used.
4. The signs can be speficied using +, e.g.,

   `{:+d}`.format(42)