Avoid trailing zeroes in printf()

Question

I keep stumbling on the format specifiers for the printf() family of functions. What I want is to be able to print a double (or float) with a maximum given number of digits

Answer 1

A simple solution but it gets the job done, assigns a known length and precision and avoids the chance of going exponential format (which is a risk when you use %g):

// Since we are only interested in 3 decimal places, this function
// can avoid any potential miniscule floating point differences
// which can return false when using "=="
int DoubleEquals(double i, double j)
{
    return (fabs(i - j) < 0.000001);
}

void PrintMaxThreeDecimal(double d)
{
    if (DoubleEquals(d, floor(d)))
        printf("%.0f", d);
    else if (DoubleEquals(d * 10, floor(d * 10)))
        printf("%.1f", d);
    else if (DoubleEquals(d * 100, floor(d* 100)))
        printf("%.2f", d);
    else
        printf("%.3f", d);
}

Add or remove "elses" if you want a max of 2 decimals; 4 decimals; etc.

For example if you wanted 2 decimals:

void PrintMaxTwoDecimal(double d)
{
    if (DoubleEquals(d, floor(d)))
        printf("%.0f", d);
    else if (DoubleEquals(d * 10, floor(d * 10)))
        printf("%.1f", d);
    else
        printf("%.2f", d);
}

If you want to specify the minimum width to keep fields aligned, increment as necessary, for example:

void PrintAlignedMaxThreeDecimal(double d)
{
    if (DoubleEquals(d, floor(d)))
        printf("%7.0f", d);
    else if (DoubleEquals(d * 10, floor(d * 10)))
        printf("%9.1f", d);
    else if (DoubleEquals(d * 100, floor(d* 100)))
        printf("%10.2f", d);
    else
        printf("%11.3f", d);
}

You could also convert that to a function where you pass the desired width of the field:

void PrintAlignedWidthMaxThreeDecimal(int w, double d)
{
    if (DoubleEquals(d, floor(d)))
        printf("%*.0f", w-4, d);
    else if (DoubleEquals(d * 10, floor(d * 10)))
        printf("%*.1f", w-2, d);
    else if (DoubleEquals(d * 100, floor(d* 100)))
        printf("%*.2f", w-1, d);
    else
        printf("%*.3f", w, d);
}