Vector3.ToString

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Hi I'm using the ToString method to convert a Vector3 to a string so I can save it to a text file. Unfortunately, when I do, it rounds the vector3 members and only save them to one decimal place. So Vector3 ( 0.454502f, 0.9543028f, 31.54063f ) becomes Vector3(0.5f, 0.1f, 31.5f)

Is there anyway to prevent this rounding?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by Wolfram · Dec 19, 2011 at 12:33 PM

Yes, the default behaviour is very annoying, and makes handling small values such as normalized Vectors, or Colors useless.

However, you can call ToString() explicitly and apply a formatting parameters yourself:

For example, probably the most useful option (which I wished was default!) Vector3 ( 0.4f, 0.9543028f, 31.54063f ).ToString("G4") will show up to 4 significant digits for every component, and will show as:

(0.4, 0.9543, 31.54)
The variant Vector3 ( 0.4f, 0.9543028f, 31.54063f ).ToString("F3") will always show 3 digits after the decimal point for every component, but again for very small numbers you'll lose precision. It will show as:

(0.400, 0.954, 31.541)

This works both in JavaScript and C#.

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dcheng334 · Jun 22, 2013 at 05:11 AM 0

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This was very helpful, thank you!

jahroy · Jun 22, 2013 at 06:06 AM 0

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Then click the little "thumbs up" button to indicate the answer was helpful. That helps others to find it.

dcheng334 · Jun 22, 2013 at 08:38 PM 1

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I left a comment since I do not have upvoting privileges! Unity's implementation of the stack exchange system is not very friendly to us newcomers...

jahroy · Jun 22, 2013 at 10:17 PM 0

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I see. That's unfortunate. I've sadly moved on from my Unity project, but still get emails sometimes. I read this answer and was shocked it had never been upvoted. Now I now why.

GRobecchi · Jul 05, 2017 at 10:05 AM 1

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I am surprised nobody suggested this, but the best option for @AntLewis is actually ToString("R")

R means "Round Trip" which is designed to ensure that the value later read from the string is the same as when it was serialized.

Wolfram GRobecchi · Jan 22, 2020 at 05:13 PM 0

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@GRobecchi : Interesting. However, note this suggestion in the .net docs: Note: Recommended for the BigInteger type only. For Double types, use "G17"; for Single types, use "G9".

Answer 2

Answer by Tabemasu Games · Dec 17, 2014 at 01:58 PM

You can also write a Vector3 expansion, like this:

 using UnityEngine;
 
 public static class Vector3Extension {
     public static string Print(this Vector3 v) {
         return v.ToString("G4");
     }
 }

Then you have a new method available for your Vector3's:

 Vector3 v = new Vector3(0.0, 0.55421, 0.0);
 UnityEngine.Debug.Log(v.Print());

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Answer 3

Answer by jahroy · Sep 17, 2011 at 07:31 PM

You could write your own function to do it correctly:

function writeVectorProperly ( theV : Vector3 ) 
{
    return "(" + theV.x + ", " + theV.y + ", " + theV.z + ")"; 
}

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Vector3.ToString

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