scientific format within bash shell

Question

Within bash shell, I need to add numbers in the format : 0.13281E-04 and -0.79254E-04. So, in the script, I have:

  tt1=`echo $var_t1| sed -e 's/[eE]+*/\\*10\\^/'`
  tt2=`echo $var_t2| sed -e 's/[eE]+*/\\*10\\^/'`
  var_t=`echo "($tt1 + $tt2)/2.0" | bc -l`

which gives result as: -.000032986500000

Is there any straight forward way getting var_t as -3.29865E-05?

Perhaps `printf "%g\n" ${var_t}`? – twalberg Aug 02 '13 at 19:16 — twalberg, Aug 02 '13 at 19:16

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 08 '13 at 09:25

0

You can use the option -v of printf like so

printf -v var_t "%g\n" -.00003298650000
echo $var_t

answered Aug 08 '13 at 09:25

hendrik

1 Answers1