Engineering numerical format PEP discussion

[Lie Ryan]

On 04/27/10 10:47, MRAB wrote:
> Mark Dickinson wrote:
>> On Apr 26, 4:36 am, Keith <keith.braff... at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I am considering writing a PEP for the inclusion of an engineering
>>> format specifier, and would appreciate input from others.
>>
>>> [...]
>>
>>> I am thinking that if we simply added something like %n (for eNgineer)
>>> to the list of format specifiers that we could make life easier for
>>> engineers:
>>>
>>> ("%n" % 12345)  == "12.345e+03"
>>> ("%n" %  1234)  == "1.234e+03"
>>> ("%n" %   123)  == "123e+00"
>>> ("%n" % 1.2345e-5)  == "12.345e+06"
>>
>> I don't think there's much chance of getting changes to old-style
>> string formatting accepted;  you might be better off aiming at the new-
>> style string formatting.  (And there, the 'n' modifier is already
>> taken for internationalization, so you'd have to find something
>> different. :)
>>
> "e" is already used, "n" is already used, "g" is already used, etc
> 
> "t" for "powers of a thousand", perhaps? (Or "m"?)

or perhaps as an extension to 'e', activated by '3e' (but that's
occupied for adding spaces, need to think of another way...)