Format Specification Mini-Language

Specification

Instead of explicitly constructing Formatter instances, users can construct SciNum instances and format them using string formatting with format specification strings from the sciform format specification mini-language (FSML). This is analogous to how python int, float, and Decimal instances can be formatted using the built-in format specification mini-language. The sciform format specification mini-language is given by:

format_spec        ::=  [left_pad_char "="][sign]["#"][left_pad_dec_place][round_mode ndigits][exp_mode]["x" exp_val]["p"]["()"]

left_pad_char      ::=  "0" | " "
sign               ::=  "+" | "-" | " "
left_pad_dec_place ::=  digit+
round_mode         ::=  "!" | "."
ndigits            ::=  [+-]?digit+
exp_mode           ::=  "f" | "F" | "%" | "e" | "E" | "r" | "R" | "b" | "B" |
exp_val            ::=  [+-]?digit+

Below is are two simple FSML usage examples. See FSML examples for more complicated FSML usage examples.

>>> from sciform import SciNum
>>> print(f"{SciNum(123456):!4f}")
123500

In this example !4 indicates the number should be formatted with four significant figures and f indicates the number should be formatted in fixed point mode.

>>> print(f"{SciNum(12345, 789):!1r}")
(12.3 ± 0.8)e+03

In this example !1 indicates the number will be formatted so that the uncertainty has one significant digit (and the value will be rounded and displayed accordingly). The r indicates that the number will be formatted using engineering notation.

See below for details about how the terms in the FSML correspond to formatting options. Further details about the options can be found at Formatting Options.

sciform Format Specification Mini-Language Terms

Format Specification

Description
left_pad_char
('0=', ' =')

Configure left_pad_char to be '0' or ' '. See Left Padding.
sign
('-', '+', ' ')

Configure sign_mode to be '-', '+', or ' '. See Sign Mode.
alternate mode
('#')

The alternate mode flag indicates to use Shifted Engineering Notation mode when the exponent mode flag is 'r' or 'R' or to use Binary IEC mode when the exponent mode flag is 'b' or 'B'.
left_pad_dec_place
(\d+)

Sets left_pad_dec_place to any non-negative integer. See Left Padding.
round_mode
('!', '.')

Sets round_mode to 'sig_fig' or 'dec_place'. See Rounding.
ndigits
([+-]?\d+)

Sets ndigits to an integer to control rounding. See Rounding.
exp_mode
('f', 'F', '%', 'e', 'E', 'r', 'R', 'b', 'B')

Sets exponent_mode. If this flag is capitalized then capitalize is set to True. See Exponent Mode.
exp_val
(x[+-]\d+)

Sets exp_val to an integer. See Fixed Exponent.
prefix mode
('p')

Sets exp_format to 'prefix'. See Exponent String Replacement.
parentheses uncertainty
('()')

Sets paren_uncertainty=True. See Parentheses Uncertainty.

Incompatibilities With Built-in Format Specification Mini-Language

The sciform FSML extends the functionality of the built-in FSML. However, sciform FSML is not entirely backwards compatible with the built-in FSML. Certain allowed built-in format specifications are illegal in the sciform FSML and certain allowed built-in format specifications give different results when used with SciNum rather than float or Decimal objects. These incompatibilities were intentionally introduced to simplify the sciform FSML by cutting out features less likely to be required for scientific formatting.

  • The built-in FSML accepts g, G and n precision types (exponent modes). These precision types are not supported by sciform. These precision types offer automated formatting decisions which are not compatible with the explicit formatting options preferred by sciform. The built-in automation features include

    • Automated selection of fixed-point or scientific notation. For sciform, the exponent mode is either explicitly indicated by the user or resolved from the global options.

    • Truncation of trailing zeros without the # option. For sciform, trailing zeros are never truncated if they fall within the user-selected decimal place or significant figures rounding.

    • Inclusion of a hanging decimal point, e.g. 123.. sciform never includes a hanging decimal point.

  • For float instances, Python formatting uses a default precision of 6 for f, F, %, e, and E modes if no explicit precision (ndigits) is supplied. sciform, instead, converts float instances into str and then Decimal so that they are displayed with as many digits as necessary to “round-trip” when no ndigits is supplied. E.g. f'{float(0.3):f}' yields 0.300000 while f'{SciNum(0.3):f} yields 0.3.

  • The built-in FSML supports left-aligned, right-aligned, center-aligned, and sign-aware string padding by any character. In the built-in FSML, the width field indicates the minimum length to which the resulting string (including all punctuation such as +, -, ., e, etc.) should be filled. sciform takes the stance that these padding features are tasks better suited for string, as opposed to number, formatters. For sciform, the user specifies the digits place to which the number should be padded. The pad character may only be ' ' or '0' and must always be followed by the sign aware = flag. There is no 0 flag, as in the built-in FSML, that may be placed before the width field to indicate sign-aware zero padding. E.g. f'{float(12): =4} yields '  12' while f{SciNum(12): =4} yields '   12', fill characters are padded up to the 104 digits place.

  • The built-in FSML supports configuring a thousands separator (what sciform calls the upper_separator). sciform has more numerous options for grouping separators such that it would be cumbersome to include all grouping separator options in the sciform FSML and awkward to only include a subset. Therefore no grouping separators can be configured using the sciform FSML, and these instead need to be configured as global options.

  • The built-in FSML supports displaying negative zero, but also supports an option to coerce negative zero to be positive by including a 'z' flag. sciform always coerces negative zero to be positive and therefore has no corresponding option to coerce negative zero to be positive.