Convert float to std::string in C++
As of C++11, the standard C++ library provides the function std::to_string(arg)
with various supported types for arg
.
Unless you're worried about performance, use string streams:
#include <sstream>
//..
std::ostringstream ss;
ss << myFloat;
std::string s(ss.str());
If you're okay with Boost, lexical_cast<> is a convenient alternative:
std::string s = boost::lexical_cast<std::string>(myFloat);
Efficient alternatives are e.g. FastFormat or simply the C-style functions.
Important:
Read the note at the end.
Quick answer :
Use to_string()
. (available since c++11)
example :
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main ()
{
string pi = "pi is " + to_string(3.1415926);
cout<< "pi = "<< pi << endl;
return 0;
}
run it yourself : http://ideone.com/7ejfaU
These are available as well :
string to_string (int val);
string to_string (long val);
string to_string (long long val);
string to_string (unsigned val);
string to_string (unsigned long val);
string to_string (unsigned long long val);
string to_string (float val);
string to_string (double val);
string to_string (long double val);
Important Note:
As @Michael Konečný rightfully pointed out, using to_string()
is risky at best that is its very likely to cause unexpected results.
From http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/to_string :
With floating point types
std::to_string
may yield unexpected results as the number of significant digits in the returned string can be zero, see the example.
The return value may differ significantly from whatstd::cout
prints by default, see the example.std::to_string
relies on the current locale for formatting purposes, and therefore concurrent calls tostd::to_string
from multiple threads may result in partial serialization of calls.C++17
providesstd::to_chars
as a higher-performance locale-independent alternative.
The best way would be to use stringstream
as others such as @dcp demonstrated in his answer.:
This issue is demonstrated in the following example :
run the example yourself : https://www.jdoodle.com/embed/v0/T4k
#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>
template < typename Type > std::string to_str (const Type & t)
{
std::ostringstream os;
os << t;
return os.str ();
}
int main ()
{
// more info : https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/to_string
double f = 23.43;
double f2 = 1e-9;
double f3 = 1e40;
double f4 = 1e-40;
double f5 = 123456789;
std::string f_str = std::to_string (f);
std::string f_str2 = std::to_string (f2); // Note: returns "0.000000"
std::string f_str3 = std::to_string (f3); // Note: Does not return "1e+40".
std::string f_str4 = std::to_string (f4); // Note: returns "0.000000"
std::string f_str5 = std::to_string (f5);
std::cout << "std::cout: " << f << '\n'
<< "to_string: " << f_str << '\n'
<< "ostringstream: " << to_str (f) << "\n\n"
<< "std::cout: " << f2 << '\n'
<< "to_string: " << f_str2 << '\n'
<< "ostringstream: " << to_str (f2) << "\n\n"
<< "std::cout: " << f3 << '\n'
<< "to_string: " << f_str3 << '\n'
<< "ostringstream: " << to_str (f3) << "\n\n"
<< "std::cout: " << f4 << '\n'
<< "to_string: " << f_str4 << '\n'
<< "ostringstream: " << to_str (f4) << "\n\n"
<< "std::cout: " << f5 << '\n'
<< "to_string: " << f_str5 << '\n'
<< "ostringstream: " << to_str (f5) << '\n';
return 0;
}
output :
std::cout: 23.43
to_string: 23.430000
ostringstream: 23.43
std::cout: 1e-09
to_string: 0.000000
ostringstream: 1e-09
std::cout: 1e+40
to_string: 10000000000000000303786028427003666890752.000000
ostringstream: 1e+40
std::cout: 1e-40
to_string: 0.000000
ostringstream: 1e-40
std::cout: 1.23457e+08
to_string: 123456789.000000
ostringstream: 1.23457e+08