#working:
>perl -e 'printf "(%s)\n", $ARGV[0]', 2.3
(2.3)

#still good:
> perl -e 'printf "%s\n", do { $ARGV[0] }', 2.3
(2.3)

# now to split 
> perl -we 'printf("(%s)\n", split(q(.), "$ARGV[0]" )  );' 2.3
Missing argument in printf at -e line 1.
()