# Noob question: How to do number formatting?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-question-how-to-do-number-formatting/65861>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [August 21, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-question-how-to-do-number-formatting/65861 "2006-08-21T23:27:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![benjohnson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@benjohnson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benjohnson)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-question-how-to-do-number-formatting/65861/1 "2006-08-21T23:27:50Z")

</div>

I searched the documentation and everything and can’t find a simple  
method for number formatting. Any links?

thanks for your help.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![benjohnson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@benjohnson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benjohnson)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-question-how-to-do-number-formatting/65861/2 "2006-08-21T23:32:35Z")

</div>

Ben J. wrote:

> I searched the documentation and everything and can’t find a simple  
> method for number formatting. Any links?
> 
> thanks for your help.

Use ri to look up printf, sprintf, and String#%

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![benjohnson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@benjohnson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benjohnson)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-question-how-to-do-number-formatting/65861/3 "2006-08-21T23:38:36Z")

</div>

On Aug 21, 2006, at 2:27 PM, Ben J. wrote:

> I searched the documentation and everything and can’t find a simple  
> method for number formatting. Any links?

Do you know how C formatting works? The Ruby printf methods work the  
same way. The details are given with:  
ri Kernel#sprintf

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![benjohnson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@benjohnson](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/benjohnson)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-question-how-to-do-number-formatting/65861/4 "2006-08-21T23:42:37Z")

</div>

Hi,

- Ben J. wrote (2006-08-22 06:27):

> I searched the documentation and everything and can’t find a simple  
> method for number formatting. Any links?

Something like this?

```
http://www.rubycentral.com/ref/ref_m_kernel.html#sprintf

```

Thorsten Broken Social Scene: It’s all gonna  
break