http://tech.therealdavidfield.com/post/3581061279/question-how-can-i-round-a-number-in-bash echo "($float+0.5)/1" | bc
If your floating point number is in a variable called float then this will round up or down accordingly. As in 1.0 and 1.4 round to 1, while 1.5 and 1.9 round to 2.