formatting float like int for whole values

[BashBedlam]

You said that you want this:

Output:
>>> foo(3.25)
'3.25'
>>> foo(4.0)
'4'
>>> 

and I gave you this:

Output:
>>> def foo (floating_point_number) :
...     integer = int (floating_point_number)
...     if integer == floating_point_number :
...             return integer
...     return floating_point_number
... 
>>> foo (3.25)
3.25
>>> foo (4.0)
4
>>> 

The only difference I see is the quotation marks. Is that what your looking for? If not, can you explain exactly what the difference is?