If you want to change the actual value, use round as Eli suggested. However for many values and certain versions of Python this will not result be represented as the string "39.54". If you want to just round it to produce a string to display to the user, you can do

>>> print "%.2f" % (39.54484700000000)
39.54

or in newer versions of Python

>>> print("{:.2f}".format(39.54484700000000))
39.54

or with the fstrings

>>> print(f'{39.54484700000000:.2f}')
39.54

Relevant Documentation: String Formatting Operations, Built-in Functions: round

Answer from Jeremy on Stack Overflow
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › python › python_string_formatting.asp
Python String Formatting
A modifier is included by adding a colon : followed by a legal formatting type, like .2f which means fixed point number with 2 decimals: ... You can perform Python operations inside the placeholders.
Discussions

Pythonic way to show 2 decimal places in f-strings?

Do the second one, just don’t worry about rounding it. Let the formatting do the rounding for display.

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🌐 r/learnpython
10
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March 1, 2019
Simple print {:.2f}.format(feet) python
# Python String Formatting with `.format()` Method ## Understanding the Format Specifier `{:.2f}` When...View the full answer More on chegg.com
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1
October 2, 2025
what does "%.2f" mean?
that snippet is python, not C. Are you using python or C? More on reddit.com
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0
October 1, 2024
Confused by .2f in python
A couple of things (bug) nlist.append(i:.2f) is not legal syntax. What you're probably trying to do is nlist.append("i:%.2f" % i). This is one of python's many forms of string parameter expansion. I might suggest the use of the 3.6+ f-stringprefix feature, which would look like nlist.append(f"i:{i:.2f}"). If this looks confusing, consider how it compares to: nlist.append(f"the value of i is:{i:.2f}"). Avoid renaming builtins, such as list. Call the arg vals or something else that isn't a builtin type. You should be documenting and annotating your code. This would look like def formatted(vals: list[float]) -> list[str]:. While type annotations have no runtime annotations, you can use tools (such as pytype) to type-analyze your code. Any time you find yourself iterating over something, only to append to a list (or add to a set, etc..), consider the use of a comprehension. In practice, that would look like: return [f"i:{val:.2f}" for val in vals] (apropos of #1 and #2 above). Putting all of that together, I would probably rewrite that function as: def formatted(vals: list[float]) -> list[str]: """Translate vals to a string representation.""" return [f"i:{val:.2f}" for val in vals] Note that I've used 3.9+ features here. Also, that docstr is maybe a bit 'iffy (e.g. "how" is it translated?), but you get the idea. It's not my intention to cast shade on your work, I understand you're just learning. These are just some tips to help steer you in the right direction for later :) (sneaky edit) I misspoke about rounding vs. truncation, ignore that bit :p More on reddit.com
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2
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July 29, 2022
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Mooc
programming-25.mooc.fi › part-4 › 5-print-statement-formatting
Print statement formatting - Python Programming MOOC 2025
The format specifier .2f states that we want to display 2 decimals. The letter f at the end means that we want the variable to be displayed as a float, i.e.
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freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org › news › 2f-in-python-what-does-it-mean
%.2f in Python – What does it Mean?
June 22, 2022 - As expected, the floating point number (1.9876) was rounded up to two decimal places – 1.99. So %.2f means to round up to two decimal places. You can play around with the code to see what happens as you change the number in the formatter.
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Real Python
realpython.com › python-string-formatting
Python String Formatting: Available Tools and Their Features – Real Python
December 1, 2024 - In this example, note that each replacement field contains a string that starts with a colon. That’s a format specifier. The .2f part tells Python that you want to format the value as a floating-point number (f) with two decimal places (.2).
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnpython › pythonic way to show 2 decimal places in f-strings?
r/learnpython on Reddit: Pythonic way to show 2 decimal places in f-strings?
March 1, 2019 -

I've got a number that needs to be rounded to 2 decimal places. Getting the round is easy, but if the number is a whole number or only has 1 digit beyond the decimal the rounding doesn't properly show 2 decimal places.

answer = 1
print(round(float(answer),2))

>> 1.0

I really like f-strings, so I would use this:

answer = 1
print(f"{round(float(answer),2):.2f}")

>> 1.00

Is there a neater or more readable method of doing this?

Find elsewhere
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Python
docs.python.org › 3 › library › string.html
string — Common string operations
In most of the cases the syntax is similar to the old %-formatting, with the addition of the {} and with : used instead of %. For example, '.2f' can be translated to '{:03.2f}'. The new format syntax also supports new and different options, shown in the following examples.
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Quora
quora.com › What-does-2f-mean-in-Python-3
What does “:.2f” mean in Python? - Quora
Answer (1 of 4): A̲l̲r̲i̲g̲h̲t̲ ̲,̲ ̲i̲n̲ ̲P̲y̲t̲h̲o̲n̲ ̲,̲ w̲h̲e̲n̲ ̲y̲o̲u̲ ̲s̲e̲e̲ ̲s̲o̲m̲e̲t̲h̲i̲ng̲ ̲l̲i̲k̲e̲ `̲ ̲:̲ ̲.2̲f̲` ̲i̲n̲ ̲a̲ ̲s̲t̲ri̲n̲g̲ ̲f̲o̲r̲m̲a̲t̲ ̲,̲ ̲t̲h̲e̲ ̲`̲ ̲.̲2̲f̲`̲ ̲p̲a̲r̲t̲ ...
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Chegg
chegg.com › engineering › computer science › computer science questions and answers › simple print {:.2f}.format(feet) python
Question: Simple print {:.2f}.format(feet) python
October 2, 2025 - # Python String Formatting with `.format()` Method ## Understanding the Format Specifier `{:.2f}` When...View the full answer
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › confused by .2f in python
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: Confused by .2f in python
July 29, 2022 -

Hi all. I've recently started learning python using an online free course. The current exercise wants the student to write a function that will round a list of floating point numbers to the second decimal point, as well as keep the list in its original order. The examples used :.2f to do the rounding, but I cannot seem to get this to work.

My code:

def formatted(list):
    nlist = []
    for i in list:
        nlist.append(i:.2f)
    return nlist

My current error in Visual Studio Code is: "(" was not closed Pylance [Ln4, Col 21]

Any help in understanding this error will be appreciated. Thanks so much!

Top answer
1 of 1
6
A couple of things (bug) nlist.append(i:.2f) is not legal syntax. What you're probably trying to do is nlist.append("i:%.2f" % i). This is one of python's many forms of string parameter expansion. I might suggest the use of the 3.6+ f-stringprefix feature, which would look like nlist.append(f"i:{i:.2f}"). If this looks confusing, consider how it compares to: nlist.append(f"the value of i is:{i:.2f}"). Avoid renaming builtins, such as list. Call the arg vals or something else that isn't a builtin type. You should be documenting and annotating your code. This would look like def formatted(vals: list[float]) -> list[str]:. While type annotations have no runtime annotations, you can use tools (such as pytype) to type-analyze your code. Any time you find yourself iterating over something, only to append to a list (or add to a set, etc..), consider the use of a comprehension. In practice, that would look like: return [f"i:{val:.2f}" for val in vals] (apropos of #1 and #2 above). Putting all of that together, I would probably rewrite that function as: def formatted(vals: list[float]) -> list[str]: """Translate vals to a string representation.""" return [f"i:{val:.2f}" for val in vals] Note that I've used 3.9+ features here. Also, that docstr is maybe a bit 'iffy (e.g. "how" is it translated?), but you get the idea. It's not my intention to cast shade on your work, I understand you're just learning. These are just some tips to help steer you in the right direction for later :) (sneaky edit) I misspoke about rounding vs. truncation, ignore that bit :p
🌐
PW Skills
pwskills.com › blog › python › 2f-in-python-what-does-it-mean
What Does %.2f Mean in Python?
October 30, 2025 - Here's an example demonstrating how you can use "%.2f" in Python: # Define a floating-point number number = 123.456789 # Using "%.2f" to format the number to display two decimal places formatted_number = "%.2f" % number # Display the formatted number print("Formatted number with two decimal places:", formatted_number)
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Analytics Vidhya
analyticsvidhya.com › home › 6 ways to round floating value to two decimals in python
6 Ways to Round Floating Value to Two Decimals in Python
November 4, 2024 - By applying the .2f format specifier within the format() method and using the "{:.2f}" format string, the number is formatted to have two decimal places. The resulting formatted_number is then printed, which outputs 3.14 ...
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DataCamp
datacamp.com › tutorial › python-round-to-two-decimal-places
Round to 2 Decimal Places in Python: round(), f-strings & More | DataCamp
June 2, 2026 - The str.format() method provides ... to prefer this method over the % operator. In the example below, :.2f is used within the curly brackets to specify that the number is rounded to two decimal places....
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Quora
quora.com › What-does-2f-mean-in-Python
What does %.2f mean in Python? - Quora
Answer (1 of 4): It is a style format called printf style specifier [1] that requests that the corresponding argument is output as a floating point value with 2 decimal places displayed. for example : [code]>>> '%.2f' % (536.1182,) '536.12' >>> '%.2f' % (536.100,) '536.10' >>> '%.2f' % (536,) ...
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Replit
replit.com › home › discover › how to use .2f in python
How to use .2f in Python | Replit
F-strings, or formatted string literals, provide a concise way to embed expressions inside string literals. In the example, the expression is price:.2f. The colon (:) signals the start of the format specifier, which tells Python how to present the value.
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Python
bugs.python.org › issue5118
Issue 5118: '%.2f' % 2.545 doesn't round correctly - Python tracker
January 31, 2009 - This issue tracker has been migrated to GitHub, and is currently read-only. For more information, see the GitHub FAQs in the Python's Developer Guide · This issue has been migrated to GitHub: https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/49368
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Quora
pythonexperts.quora.com › What-does-2f-mean-in-Python
http://www.quora.com/What-does-2f-mean-in-Python/answer/Tony-Flury
Quora is a place to gain and share knowledge. It's a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers.
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Python
docs.python.org › 3 › builtins › stdtypes.html
Built-in Types — Python 3.14.7 documentation
The following sections describe the standard types that are built into the interpreter. The principal built-in types are numerics, sequences, mappings, classes, instances and exceptions. Some colle...