Python Decimals format

If you have Python 2.6 or newer, use format:

'{0:.3g}'.format(num)

For Python 2.5 or older:

'%.3g'%(num)

Explanation:

{0}tells format to print the first argument -- in this case, num.

Everything after the colon (:) specifies the format_spec.

.3 sets the precision to 3.

g removes insignificant zeros. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printf#fprintf

For example:

tests=[(1.00, '1'),
       (1.2, '1.2'),
       (1.23, '1.23'),
       (1.234, '1.23'),
       (1.2345, '1.23')]

for num, answer in tests:
    result = '{0:.3g}'.format(num)
    if result != answer:
        print('Error: {0} --> {1} != {2}'.format(num, result, answer))
        exit()
    else:
        print('{0} --> {1}'.format(num,result))

yields

1.0 --> 1
1.2 --> 1.2
1.23 --> 1.23
1.234 --> 1.23
1.2345 --> 1.23

---

Using Python 3.6 or newer, you could use f-strings:

In [40]: num = 1.234; f'{num:.3g}'
Out[40]: '1.23'

Only first part of Justin's answer is correct. Using "%.3g" will not work for all cases as .3 is not the precision, but total number of digits. Try it for numbers like 1000.123 and it breaks.

So, I would use what Justin is suggesting:

>>> ('%.4f' % 12340.123456).rstrip('0').rstrip('.')
'12340.1235'
>>> ('%.4f' % -400).rstrip('0').rstrip('.')
'-400'
>>> ('%.4f' % 0).rstrip('0').rstrip('.')
'0'
>>> ('%.4f' % .1).rstrip('0').rstrip('.')
'0.1'