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Ruby Ruby Foundations Numbers Random Numbers and Formatting

Posted by mm4
mm4
8,600 Points

Formatting numbers in Ruby

I don’t understand how we got from sprint(“$%0.2f”, number) to “$100.50$ in this video.

I know this is the sprintf syntax, as given by the kernel module docs: %[flags][width][.precision]type.

So type = f and precision = 2 (because we want 2 digits after the decimal) Why is width 0? Also why did Jason put the % after the $ in the video? Isn't it the other way around?

1 Answer

Unsubscribed User
Unsubscribed User
3,309 Points
Unsubscribed User
Unsubscribed User
3,309 Points

The field width specifies the minimum size of the field. In this case the 0 is unnecessary, but it may improve readability. Try omitting it, and you get the same result:

sprintf("$%.2f", number) # => "$100.50"

It's clearer if you make the field width 20 (it's not very clear in Markdown, but it is in irb):

sprintf("$%20.2f", number) # => "$ 100.50"

He inserts the $ before % because he wants $ to appear before number. We could insert & instead:

sprintf("&%0.2f", number) # => "&100.50"; or even "foo bar ":

sprintf("foo bar %0.2f", number) # => "foo bar 100.50"

If you place $ after % it has a special meaning and you get an error:

sprintf("%$0.2f", number) # => ': malformed format string - %$ (ArgumentError)

Everything between % and type has special meaning (but is optional):
%[flags][width][.precision]type - Let's move the $ to be after number:

sprintf("%0.2f$", number) # => "100.50$"

Now format two strings, left-justify one, then right-justify the other (again, not 28 wide in Markdown):

sprintf("%-10s center %10s", "Left", "Right") # "Left center Right"

Definitely play around with it.

There are lots of examples here: http://apidock.com/ruby/Kernel/sprintf and you can also read another Forum post here: https://teamtreehouse.com/forum/please-help-explain-sprintf