Hi, a simple question: how to print 0.555 instead of .555 with bc? (i
need the 0 to be printed)
I searched on man and old threads without success.
Thanks in advance

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At 2007-05-02 10:14AM, "Flyzone" wrote:
>  Hi, a simple question: how to print 0.555 instead of .555 with bc? (i
>  need the 0 to be printed)
>  I searched on man and old threads without success.

Try specifying the scale:
$ echo 'scale=3;555/1000'|bc
0.555

--
Glenn Jackman
"You can only be young once. But you can always be immature." -- Dave Barry

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In news:1178115291.475667.142100@p77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com,
Flyzone <flyzone@technologist.com> wrote:

> Hi, a simple question: how to print 0.555 instead of .555 with bc? (i
> need the 0 to be printed)

A simple answer: one can't, because bc doesn't print other than scale and
significant figures. A leading 0 is not a significant figures. You can
outsmart it though:

printf "0%s" $(echo "scale=3;1.11/2" | bc)

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In news:slrnf3hbnm.i9s.glennj@smeagol.ncf.ca,
Glenn Jackman <glennj@ncf.ca> wrote:

> Try specifying the scale:
>     $ echo 'scale=3;555/1000'|bc
>     0.555

What version are you using?

$  bc -v
bc 1.06
Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
$  echo 'scale=3;555/1000'|bc
.555

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Flyzone <flyzone@technologist.com> wrote:
> Hi, a simple question: how to print 0.555 instead of .555 with bc? (i
> need the 0 to be printed)

I am not sure there is a "native" way to do this with bc.  You can,
however, define a function to prepend a zero to a number which is
between 0 and 1 (note that negative numbers are treated accordingly):

define pr(x) {
if ( x > 0 && x < 1 ) "0"
if ( x < 0 && x > -1 ) {
"-0"
x = -x
}
return x
}

After defining the function, you simply call it with the appropriate
argument (expression):

pr(10.12)
pr(.10923)

a = 10.123
b = 9.789

pr(a-b)
pr(b-a)

--
Kenan Kalajdzic

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At 2007-05-02 11:43AM, "Patrick" wrote:
>  In news:slrnf3hbnm.i9s.glennj@smeagol.ncf.ca,
>  Glenn Jackman <glennj@ncf.ca> wrote:
> 
>
>  What version are you using?
>  $  bc -v
>  bc 1.06
>  Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

An old solaris version.

$ bc -v
bc: illegal option -- v
usage: bc [ -c ] [ -l ] [ file ... ]
$ what `which bc`
/usr/bin/bc:
SunOS 5.8 Generic February 2000

>  $  echo 'scale=3;555/1000'|bc
>  .555
>


--
Glenn Jackman
"You can only be young once. But you can always be immature." -- Dave Barry

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On 2 Mag, 17:37, "Patrick" <ptri.c...@statrerv.corn> wrote:
> A simple answer: one can't, because bc doesn't print other than scale and
> significant figures.

ouc! :-P

> printf "0%s" $(echo "scale=3;1.11/2" |bc)
You gave me the idea 
Better with
printf "%.3f" $(echo "555/777"|bc -l)
It's more portable cause with the bc printing 0 like the old version
of Glenn Jackman (that i have also on some SunOs too), will print
double 0.

Thanks

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Flyzone wrote:
 
> You gave me the idea 
> Better with
> printf "%.3f" $(echo "555/777"|bc -l)
> It's more portable cause with the bc printing 0 like the old version
> of Glenn Jackman (that i have also on some SunOs too), will print
> double 0.

It may not be as portable as you think.  POSIX doesn't require the
printf utility to support floating-point conversions.

--
Geoff Clare <netnews@gclare.org.uk>

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Geoff Clare wrote:
> Flyzone wrote:
>
> 
>
>
> It may not be as portable as you think.  POSIX doesn't require the
> printf utility to support floating-point conversions.
>

You could always fall back on awk:

awk 'BEGIN{printf "%.3f\n",555/777}'

or, if you NEED bc for whetever reason:

echo "555/777"|bc -l | awk '{printf "%.3f\n",$0}'

Ed.

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On Wed, 2 May 2007 08:37:28 -0700, "Patrick" <ptri.c.k.@statrerv.corn>
wrote:

>In news:1178115291.475667.142100@p77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com,
>Flyzone <flyzone@technologist.com> wrote:
> 
>
>A simple answer: one can't, because bc doesn't print other than scale and
>significant figures. A leading 0 is not a significant figures. You can
>outsmart it though:
>
>printf "0%s" $(echo "scale=3;1.11/2" | bc)

printf "0%s\n" $(echo 'scale=3;555/1000'|bc) sounds better... as no
output is done without \n 

or better: printf "%0.3f" $(echo 'scale=3;555/1000'|bc) ... might try
"%0.4f", either...

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