Print Ra,Dec in floating point values (in units of hours,degrees or degrees,degrees) given input RA,DEC in sexigecimal format. To do the inverse operation use the script sexcd.

% cdsex --help  
cdsex:
  Print Ra,Dec in floating point format (either hours,degrees or 
degrees,degrees) given input RA,DEC in sexigecimal format.  

For the inverse operation (float to sexigecimal) see:  sexcd 

Examples: 
% cdsex 11:09:10.1088 +23:59:50.7516 dd
 167.292120 23.997431000 dd

% cdsex 11:09:10.1088 +23:59:50.7516 hd
 11.152808000 23.997431000 hd

% cdsex 11:09:10.1088 +23:59:50.7516 HD
ERROR:  arg3 must be "hd" or "dd"