pmNumberStr(3) fixed width output format for numbers

C SYNOPSIS

#include <pcp/pmapi.h>

const char *pmNumberStr(double value)

cc ... -lpcp

DESCRIPTION

pmNumberStr returns the address of a static 8-byte buffer that holds a null-byte terminated representation of value suitable for output with fixed width fields.

The value is scaled using multipliers in powers of ``one thousand'' (the decimal ``kilo'') and has a bias that provides greater precision for positive numbers as opposed to negative numbers.

The format depends on the sign and magnitude of value as follows (d represents a decimal digit):

value rangeformat


        > 999995000000000
inf?
999995000000000 - 999995000000ddd.ddT

   999995000000 - 999995000
ddd.ddG

      999995000 - 999995
ddd.ddM

         999995 - 999.995
ddd.ddK

        999.995 - 0.005
ddd.dd

          0.005 - -0.005
0.00

         -0.005 - -99.95
-dd.dd

        -99.995 - -99995
-dd.ddK

         -99995 - -99995000
-dd.ddM

      -99995000 - -99995000000
-dd.ddG

   -99995000000 - -99995000000000
-dd.ddT

       < -99995000000000
-inf?

At the boundary points of the ranges, the chosen format will retain the maximum number of significant digits.