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Python float to Decimal conversion

Asked 2008-11-25T02:53:44.023
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Python Decimal doesn't support being constructed from float; it expects that you have to convert float to a string first.

This is very inconvenient since standard string formatters for float require that you specify number of decimal places rather than significant places. So if you have a number that could have as many as 15 decimal places you need to format as Decimal("%.15f" % my_float), which will give you garbage at the 15th decimal place if you also have any significant digits before decimal (Decimal("%.15f" % 100000.3) == Decimal('100000.300000000002910')).

Can someone suggest a good way to convert from float to Decimal preserving value as the user has entered, perhaps limiting number of significant digits that can be supported?

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The "official" string representation of a float is given by the repr() built-in:

>>> repr(1.5)
'1.5'
>>> repr(12345.678901234567890123456789)
'12345.678901234567'

You can use repr() instead of a formatted string, the result won't contain any unnecessary garbage.

answered 2008-11-25T03:00:30.873

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