How to avoid scientific notation for large numbers in JavaScript?

Question

JavaScript converts a large INT to scientific notation when the number becomes large. How can I prevent this from happening?

Answer 1

Currently there is no native function to dissolve scientific notation. However, for this purpose you must write your own functionality.

Here is my:

function dissolveExponentialNotation(number)
{
    if(!Number.isFinite(number)) { return undefined; }

    let text = number.toString();
    let items = text.split('e');

    if(items.length == 1) { return text; }

    let significandText = items[0];
    let exponent = parseInt(items[1]);

    let characters = Array.from(significandText);
    let minus = characters[0] == '-';
    if(minus) { characters.splice(0, 1); }
    let indexDot = characters.reduce((accumulator, character, index) =>
    {
        if(!accumulator.found) { if(character == '.') { accumulator.found = true; } else { accumulator.index++; } }
        return accumulator;
    }, { index: 0, found: false }).index;

    characters.splice(indexDot, 1);

    indexDot += exponent;

    if(indexDot >= 0 && indexDot < characters.length - 1)
    {
        characters.splice(indexDot, 0, '.');
    }
    else if(indexDot < 0)
    {
        characters.unshift("0.", "0".repeat(-indexDot));
    }
    else
    {
        characters.push("0".repeat(indexDot - characters.length));
    }

    return (minus ? "-" : "") + characters.join("");
}

Answer 2

I think there may be several similar answers, but here's a thing I came up with

// If you're gonna tell me not to use 'with' I understand, just,
// it has no other purpose, ;( andthe code actually looks neater
// 'with' it but I will edit the answer if anyone insists
var commas = false;

function digit(number1, index1, base1) {
    with (Math) {
        return floor(number1/pow(base1, index1))%base1;
    }
}

function digits(number1, base1) {
    with (Math) {
        o = "";
        l = floor(log10(number1)/log10(base1));
        for (var index1 = 0; index1 < l+1; index1++) {
            o = digit(number1, index1, base1) + o;
            if (commas && i%3==2 && i<l) {
                o = "," + o;
            }
        }
        return o;
    }
}

// Test - this is the limit of accurate digits I think
console.log(1234567890123450);

Note: this is only as accurate as the javascript math functions and has problems when using log instead of log10 on the line before the for loop; it will write 1000 in base-10 as 000 so I changed it to log10 because people will mostly be using base-10 anyways.

This may not be a very accurate solution but I'm proud to say it can successfully translate numbers across bases and comes with an option for commas!

Answer 3

I tried working with the string form rather than the number and this seemed to work. I have only tested this on Chrome but it should be universal:

function removeExponent(s) {
    var ie = s.indexOf('e');
    if (ie != -1) {
        if (s.charAt(ie + 1) == '-') {
            // negative exponent, prepend with .0s
            var n = s.substr(ie + 2).match(/[0-9]+/);
            s = s.substr(2, ie - 2); // remove the leading '0.' and exponent chars
            for (var i = 0; i < n; i++) {
                s = '0' + s;
            }
            s = '.' + s;
        } else {
            // positive exponent, postpend with 0s
            var n = s.substr(ie + 1).match(/[0-9]+/);
            s = s.substr(0, ie); // strip off exponent chars            
            for (var i = 0; i < n; i++) {
                s += '0';
            }       
        }
    }
    return s;
}

Answer 4

You can use number.toString(10.1):

console.log(Number.MAX_VALUE.toString(10.1));

Note: This currently works in Chrome, but not in Firefox. The specification says the radix has to be an integer, so this results in unreliable behavior.

Answer 5

For small number, and you know how many decimals you want, you can use toFixed and then use a regexp to remove the trailing zeros.

Number(1e-7).toFixed(8).replace(/\.?0+$/,"") //0.000

Answer 6

Busting out the regular expressions. This has no precision issues and is not a lot of code.

function toPlainString(num) {
  return (''+ +num).replace(/(-?)(\d*)\.?(\d+)e([+-]\d+)/,
    function(a,b,c,d,e) {
      return e < 0
        ? b + '0.' + Array(1-e-c.length).join(0) + c + d
        : b + c + d + Array(e-d.length+1).join(0);
    });
}

console.log(toPlainString(12345e+12));
console.log(toPlainString(12345e+24));
console.log(toPlainString(-12345e+24));
console.log(toPlainString(12345e-12));
console.log(toPlainString(123e-12));
console.log(toPlainString(-123e-12));
console.log(toPlainString(-123.45e-56));
console.log(toPlainString('1e-8'));
console.log(toPlainString('1.0e-8'));