Re: float to numeric(7,3)

Hello Steve,

Using the ST_Distance function from PostGIS (http://www.postgis.org/docs/ST_Distance.html) which returns a float.

I would like to return the result of this function rounded to 3 decimal places. What is the best way to do that?

I can't claim it's the best way, but have you tried the following? Substituting a different function for ST_Distance, for this example:

sar=> SELECT round(pi()::numeric,3);

round
-------
3.142
(1 row)

If you want to specify the number of decimal places using round(), you have to cast the value as numeric.
You could cast the result directly to numeric(7,3) if you wanted:

sar=> SELECT (pi()*1000)::numeric(7,3);

numeric
----------
3141.593
(1 row)

...but that will fail if your value is too large:

sar=> SELECT (pi()*10000)::numeric(7,3);

ERROR: numeric field overflow
DETAIL: A field with precision 7, scale 3 must round to an absolute value less than 10^4.

Hope that helps,
Bryan