Try something like this:

printf "%10.2f\n", $variable;
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This will print $variable in a 10 character field with 2 places after the decimal. Change the formatting numbers to suit your needs (%.1f would fit above).

The 'f' tells you the number is a floating point.

Chapter 6 of _Learning Perl_ gives a few more examples.

J. J. Horner
Linux, Perl, Apache, Stronghold, Unix
jhorner@knoxlug.org http://www.knoxlug.org/