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Haskell: how to properly display a percentage up to two decimals?

In a program, I calculate a percentage and print it to the user. The issue is that the percentage printed is shown with too many decimals. I searched for a function addressing this issue, didn't find one, and programmed the rounding function below, but I wonder if there is a more standard way to do this instead. Also, the idea described in this Java topic is pretty neat, and if there already are functions to do that, I would love to know.

roundTo :: (Integral int1, Integral int2) => int1 -> Double -> Either int2 Double
roundTo digitsAfterComma value
    | (digitsAfterComma >= 1) =
        let
            factor = fromIntegral (10 ^ digitsAfterComma)
            result = ((/ factor) . fromIntegral . round . (* factor)) value
        in
            Right result
    | (digitsAfterComma == 0) = Left (round value)
    | otherwise = error "minimal precision must be non-negative"

Update: A more complete version follows, developed thanks to some of the answers I've received.

import qualified Text.Printf as T

showPercentage :: (Integral a, Show a) => a -> Double -> String
showPercentage digitsAfterComma fraction
    | (digitsAfterComma >= 1) =
        let formatString = "%." ++ (show digitsAfterComma) ++ "f%%"
        in  T.printf formatString percentage

    | (digitsAfterComma == 0) =
        let formatString = "%d%%"
        in  T.printf formatString (round percentage :: Int)

    | otherwise = error "minimal precision must be non-negative"
    where percentage = 100 * fraction
like image 513
Fornost Avatar asked Aug 23 '15 18:08

Fornost


2 Answers

> import Text.Printf
> printf "%.2f" 0.22324 :: String
"0.22"

You can use most format strings C's printf supports.

Keep in mind, however, that Haskell's printf involves some complex typeclass machinery, and can generate hard-to-read type errors. It is also very general, since it can also return IO actions, i.e.

> printf "%.2f" 0.22324 :: IO ()
0.22

does not return a string but directly prints it. I'd recommend you always add a type annotation (such as :: String above) after each call of printf, unless it's clear from the context what is the return type (e.g. in a do block with other IO actions).

like image 119
chi Avatar answered Nov 11 '22 06:11

chi


printf is solid, and another library worth knowing about is formatting (which is based off of the lovely HoleyMonoid library):

Prelude Formatting> format ("to two decimal places: " % prec 2 % "!") 0.2222
"to two decimal places: 0.22!"

Note that formatting is type-safe, unlike printf:

Prelude Text.Printf Formatting> :t printf "%.2f" "hi"
printf "%.2f" "hi" :: PrintfType t => t
Prelude Text.Printf Formatting> printf "%.2f" "hi"
*** Exception: printf: bad formatting char 'f'

Prelude Text.Printf Formatting> :t format (prec 2) "hi"
-- type error
like image 8
jtobin Avatar answered Nov 11 '22 05:11

jtobin