Praat fixed$ function

Question

I am writing a praat script to segment a file, but also add padded boundaries. When I use the following line:

start = 9.17
paddedStart = fixed$(start - 0.200, 3)

I get the error

"Found a string expression instead of a numeric expression"

but if I try

paddedStart = fixed$(number(start), 3)

I get the error

"The function "number" requires a string, not a number."

How can I used the fixed$ function to limit the number of decimal places in a number?

Answer 1

I figured it out. fixed$ creates a string, not a number. So, if you use the number function, a number is returned. Ex: number(fixed$(start - 0.200, 3))

Answer 2

fixed$ takes only 2 arguments, so you should realise your calculations outside the function.

The variable start has only 2 digits after the decimal point, so it is meaningless to propose 3 digits.

Try this:

---

start = 9.17

start2 = start - 0.2

paddedStart = fixed$(start2, 1)

paddedStart2 = number(paddedStart)

---