Only show decimal point if floating point component is not .00 sprintf/printf

Question

I am pretty formatting a floating point number but want it to appear as an integer if there is no relevant floating point number.

I.e.

• 1.20 -> 1.2x
• 1.78 -> 1.78x
• 0.80 -> 0.8x
• 2.00 -> 2x

I can achieve this with a bit of regex but wondering if there is a sprintf-only way of doing this?

I am doing it rather lazily in ruby like so:

("%0.2fx" % (factor / 100.0)).gsub(/\.?0+x$/,'x')

Answer 1

You want to use %g instead of %f:

"%gx" % (factor / 100.00)

Answer 2

I just came across this, the fix above didnt work, but I came up with this, which works for me:

def format_data(data_element)
    # if the number is an in, dont show trailing zeros
    if data_element.to_i == data_element
         return "%i" % data_element
    else
    # otherwise show 2 decimals
        return "%.2f" % data_element
    end
end