how to format cell as text?

poolboi has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

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Re: how to format cell as text? by grizzley (Chaplain) on Mar 06, 2008 at 08:35 UTC
In this particular case just print is ok: `D:\>perl -le "$_=23232363283842;print" 23232363283842` [download] But this doesn't: `D:\>perl -le "$_=23232363283842232;print" 2.32323632838422e+016` [download] and in such case I would try to split to groups of digits: `$_=23232363283842232; while($_) { unshift @a, sprintf"%06d", $_%1e6; $_=int($_/1e6); } $a[0]%=1e6; print@a Result: D:\>perl -le "$_=23232363283842232;while($_) { unshift@a,sprintf\"%06d +\",$_%1e6; $_=int($_/1e6); } $a[0]%=1e6;print@a" 23232363283842232` [download] Update: It will work correctly for 0, but for negative integers one must change the input int to opposite and store the minus sign in variable to print it later. `$sign=""; if($_<0) { $_=-$_; $sign="-"; } ...and at the end print $sign,@a` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: how to format cell as text? by nefigah (Monk) on Mar 06, 2008 at 08:05 UTC
Hmm, for what it's worth, for me print seems to output that number just like that already. Do you have a little example you could paste? Update: Maybe printf could help? Something like `printf "%f", $huge_num;`	[reply] [d/l]
Re: how to format cell as text? by Khisanth (Novice) on Mar 06, 2008 at 09:07 UTC
You can also use bignum but there will be speed penalties. You could restrict the 'use bignum;' to the smallest possible scope to limit the number of places where you will be penalized. $ perl -Mbignum -le 'print 2128' 340282366920938463463374607431768211456 You can also use Math::BigInt directly $ perl -MMath::BigInt -le 'my $n = (Math::BigInt->new(2))128; print $n;' 340282366920938463463374607431768211456	[reply]
Re: how to format cell as text? by apl (Monsignor) on Mar 06, 2008 at 10:50 UTC
What does your program do with the large number, and how is that number determined? It might be easier to store (and manipulate) it as a string.	[reply]
Re: how to format cell as text? by roboticus (Chancellor) on Mar 06, 2008 at 20:29 UTC
poolboi: If you're using Spreadsheet::WriteExcel then read the documentation regarding the `write_string()` function. But as you didn't provide any information at all in your question, it's just a shot in the dark. ...roboticus	[reply] [d/l]
Re: how to format cell as text? by poolboi (Acolyte) on Mar 07, 2008 at 01:37 UTC
alright guys sorrie let me be more specific well basically i have a text file .txt file containing information like : 91000000,34526812233930 72788171, 345268812233931 112332332, 34526800812233932 1 rows selected i got a perl script using win32::OLE to print all this information into excel sheet but the problem is the number that are too long are printed out in exponential format like 3.45+E14 i want it to be as it is per normal in excel i know u can use drop down and change the cell format to text but any idea how i can automate this in perl script?	[reply]