How do I get a decimal value when using the division operator in Python?
Question: For example, the standard division symbol '/' rounds to zero:

    
    
    >>> 4 / 100
    0
    

However, I want it to return 0.04. What do I use?


Answer: There are three options:

    
    
    >>> 4 / float(100)
    0.04
    >>> 4 / 100.0
    0.04
    

which is the same behavior as the C, C++, Java etc, or

    
    
    >>> from __future__ import division
    >>> 4 / 100
    0.04
    

You can also activate this behavior by passing the argument `-Qnew` to the
Python interpreter:

    
    
    $ python -Qnew
    >>> 4 / 100
    0.04
    

The second option will be the default in Python 3.0. If you want to have the
old integer division, you have to use the `//` operator.

**Edit** : added section about `-Qnew`, thanks to
[ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ](http://stackoverflow.com/users/6899/)!

