# Freefem default precision

**URL:** <https://community.freefem.org/t/freefem-default-precision/2223>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [January 16, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/freefem-default-precision/2223 "2023-01-16T13:11:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![luca.liverotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@luca.liverotti](https://community.freefem.org/u/luca.liverotti)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/freefem-default-precision/2223/1 "2023-01-16T13:11:58Z")

</div>

Freefem default precision is 6, that is, if you want to printout a real variable, Freefem will show you not the real number with all digits in memory, but the real number with 6 significant digits.

Does a way exist to change this setting? Like in Matlab for instance with format short and format long commands?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cmd](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.freefem.org/cmd/32/67_2.png) [@cmd](https://community.freefem.org/u/cmd)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/freefem-default-precision/2223/2 "2023-01-16T16:01:43Z")

</div>

Yes. `cout.precision(N);` where `N` is an integer.