(gawk.info.gz) OFMT

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 4.4 Controlling Numeric Output with `print'
 ===========================================
 
 When the `print' statement is used to print numeric values, `awk'
 internally converts the number to a string of characters and prints
 that string.  `awk' uses the `sprintf' function to do this conversion
 ( String Functions).  For now, it suffices to say that the
 `sprintf' function accepts a "format specification" that tells it how
 to format numbers (or strings), and that there are a number of
 different ways in which numbers can be formatted.  The different format
 specifications are discussed more fully in  Control Letters.
 
    The built-in variable `OFMT' contains the default format
 specification that `print' uses with `sprintf' when it wants to convert
 a number to a string for printing.  The default value of `OFMT' is
 `"%.6g"'.  The way `print' prints numbers can be changed by supplying
 different format specifications as the value of `OFMT', as shown in the
 following example:
 
      $ awk 'BEGIN {
      >   OFMT = "%.0f"  # print numbers as integers (rounds)
      >   print 17.23, 17.54 }'
      -| 17 18
 
 According to the POSIX standard, `awk''s behavior is undefined if
 `OFMT' contains anything but a floating-point conversion specification.
 (d.c.)
 

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