Truncate (shorten) a floating point value at given precision.

truncate_float.py

def truncate_float(number, precision, round=False):
    """ Truncate (shorten) a floating point value at given precision """

    # don't allow a negative precision [by mistake?]
    precision = abs(precision)

    if round:
        # python 2.7+ supported method [recommended]
        short_float = round(number, precision)

        # python 2.6+ supported method
        """short_float = float("{0:.{1}f}".format(number, precision))
        """

    else:
        operate_on = 1   # returns the absolute number (e.g. 11.0 from 11.456)
        
        for i in range(precision):
            operate_on *= 10

        short_float = float(int(number*operate_on)) / operate_on


    return short_float