Convert a list of floats to a list of strings in Python

Convert a list of floats to a list of strings in Python #

To convert a list of floats to a list of strings:

1. Use a list comprehension to iterate over the list.
2. On each iteration, pass the current float to the str() class.
3. The new list will only contain strings.

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list_of_floats = [1.234, 5.678, 6.789]

# ✅ convert list of floats to list of strings
# without rounding
list_of_strings = [str(item) for item in list_of_floats]

print(list_of_strings)  # 👉️ ['1.234', '5.678', '6.789']

# --------------------------------------------------------

# ✅ convert list of floats to list of strings
# with rounding

list_of_strings = [f'{item:.2f}' for item in list_of_floats]
print(list_of_strings)  # 👉️ [1.23, 5.68, 6.79]

We used a list comprehension to iterate over the list of floating-point numbers.

On each iteration, we pass the current list item to the str() class to convert it to a string.

The new list only contains string values.

If you need to round the float values when converting to strings, use a formatted string literal.

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list_of_floats = [1.234, 5.678, 6.789]


list_of_strings = [f'{item:.2f}' for item in list_of_floats]
print(list_of_strings)  # 👉️ [1.23, 5.68, 6.79]

The example rounds each float to 2 digits precision after the decimal point.

Formatted string literals (f-strings) let us include expressions inside of a string by prefixing the string with f.

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my_str = 'is subscribed:'

my_bool = True

result = f'{my_str} {my_bool}'

print(result)  # 👉️ is subscribed: True

Make sure to wrap expressions in curly braces - {expression}.

We are also able to use the format specification mini-language in expressions in f-strings.

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my_float = 3.2

result_1 = f'{my_float:.3f}'
print(result_1)  # 👉️ '3.200'

result_2 = f'{my_float:.5f}'
print(result_2)  # 👉️ '3.20000'

result_3 = f'{my_float:.6f}'
print(result_3)  # 👉️ '3.200000'

Alternatively, you can use the map() function.

Convert a list of floats to a list of strings using map() #

To convert a list of floats to a list of strings:

1. Call the map() function with the str() class and the list of floats.
2. The map() function will pass each float from the list to the str() class.
3. Use the list() class to convert the map object to a list.

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list_of_floats = [1.234, 5.678, 6.789]

list_of_strings = list(map(str, list_of_floats))

print(list_of_strings)  # 👉️

The map() function takes a function and an iterable as arguments and calls the function with each item of the iterable.

The last step is to use the list() class to convert the map object to a list.

Which approach you pick is a matter of personal preference. I'd go with using a list comprehension as I find it more direct and easier to read.