How to check if a String is numeric in Java

Question

How would you check if a String was a number before parsing it?

Answer 1

You can use NumberFormat#parse:

try
{
     NumberFormat.getInstance().parse(value);
}
catch(ParseException e)
{
    // Not a number.
}

Answer 2

This a simple example for this check:

public static boolean isNumericString(String input) {
    boolean result = false;

    if(input != null && input.length() > 0) {
        char[] charArray = input.toCharArray();

        for(char c : charArray) {
            if(c >= '0' && c <= '9') {
                // it is a digit
                result = true;
            } else {
                result = false;
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    return result;
}

Answer 3

This is generally done with a simple user-defined function (i.e. Roll-your-own "isNumeric" function).

Something like:

public static boolean isNumeric(String str)  
{  
  try  
  {  
    double d = Double.parseDouble(str);  
  }  
  catch(NumberFormatException nfe)  
  {  
    return false;  
  }  
  return true;  
}

However, if you're calling this function a lot, and you expect many of the checks to fail due to not being a number then performance of this mechanism will not be great, since you're relying upon exceptions being thrown for each failure, which is a fairly expensive operation.

An alternative approach may be to use a regular expression to check for validity of being a number:

public static boolean isNumeric(String str)
{
  return str.matches("-?\\d+(\\.\\d+)?");  //match a number with optional '-' and decimal.
}

Be careful with the above RegEx mechanism, though, as it will fail if you're using non-Arabic digits (i.e. numerals other than 0 through to 9). This is because the "\d" part of the RegEx will only match [0-9] and effectively isn't internationally numerically aware. (Thanks to OregonGhost for pointing this out!)

Or even another alternative is to use Java's built-in java.text.NumberFormat object to see if, after parsing the string the parser position is at the end of the string. If it is, we can assume the entire string is numeric:

public static boolean isNumeric(String str)
{
  NumberFormat formatter = NumberFormat.getInstance();
  ParsePosition pos = new ParsePosition(0);
  formatter.parse(str, pos);
  return str.length() == pos.getIndex();
}

Answer 4

Exceptions are expensive, but in this case the RegEx takes much longer. The code below shows a simple test of two functions -- one using exceptions and one using regex. On my machine the RegEx version is 10 times slower than the exception.

import java.util.Date;


public class IsNumeric {

public static boolean isNumericOne(String s) {
    return s.matches("-?\\d+(\\.\\d+)?");  //match a number with optional '-' and decimal.      
}

public static boolean isNumericTwo(String s) {
    try {
        Double.parseDouble(s);
        return true;
    } catch (Exception e) {
        return false;
    }
}

public static void main(String [] args) {

    String test = "12345.F";

    long before = new Date().getTime();     
    for(int x=0;x<1000000;++x) {
        //isNumericTwo(test);
        isNumericOne(test);
    }
    long after = new Date().getTime();

    System.out.println(after-before);

}

}

Answer 5

Here was my answer to the problem.

A catch all convenience method which you can use to parse any String with any type of parser: isParsable(Object parser, String str). The parser can be a Class or an object. This will also allows you to use custom parsers you've written and should work for ever scenario, eg:

isParsable(Integer.class, "11");
isParsable(Double.class, "11.11");
Object dateFormater = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z");
isParsable(dateFormater, "2001.07.04 AD at 12:08:56 PDT");

Here's my code complete with method descriptions.

import java.lang.reflect.*;

/**
 * METHOD: isParsable<p><p>
 * 
 * This method will look through the methods of the specified <code>from</code> parameter
 * looking for a public method name starting with "parse" which has only one String
 * parameter.<p>
 * 
 * The <code>parser</code> parameter can be a class or an instantiated object, eg:
 * <code>Integer.class</code> or <code>new Integer(1)</code>. If you use a
 * <code>Class</code> type then only static methods are considered.<p>
 * 
 * When looping through potential methods, it first looks at the <code>Class</code> associated
 * with the <code>parser</code> parameter, then looks through the methods of the parent's class
 * followed by subsequent ancestors, using the first method that matches the criteria specified
 * above.<p>
 * 
 * This method will hide any normal parse exceptions, but throws any exceptions due to
 * programmatic errors, eg: NullPointerExceptions, etc. If you specify a <code>parser</code>
 * parameter which has no matching parse methods, a NoSuchMethodException will be thrown
 * embedded within a RuntimeException.<p><p>
 * 
 * Example:<br>
 * <code>isParsable(Boolean.class, "true");<br>
 * isParsable(Integer.class, "11");<br>
 * isParsable(Double.class, "11.11");<br>
 * Object dateFormater = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z");<br>
 * isParsable(dateFormater, "2001.07.04 AD at 12:08:56 PDT");<br></code>
 * <p>
 * 
 * @param parser    The Class type or instantiated Object to find a parse method in.
 * @param str   The String you want to parse
 * 
 * @return true if a parse method was found and completed without exception
 * @throws java.lang.NoSuchMethodException If no such method is accessible 
 */
public static boolean isParsable(Object parser, String str) {
    Class theClass = (parser instanceof Class? (Class)parser: parser.getClass());
    boolean staticOnly = (parser == theClass), foundAtLeastOne = false;
    Method[] methods = theClass.getMethods();

    // Loop over methods
    for (int index = 0; index < methods.length; index++) {
        Method method = methods[index];

        // If method starts with parse, is public and has one String parameter.
        // If the parser parameter was a Class, then also ensure the method is static. 
        if(method.getName().startsWith("parse") &&
            (!staticOnly || Modifier.isStatic(method.getModifiers())) &&
            Modifier.isPublic(method.getModifiers()) &&
            method.getGenericParameterTypes().length == 1 &&
            method.getGenericParameterTypes()[0] == String.class)
        {
            try {
                foundAtLeastOne = true;
                method.invoke(parser, str);
                return true; // Successfully parsed without exception
            } catch (Exception exception) {
                // If invoke problem, try a different method
                /*if(!(exception instanceof IllegalArgumentException) &&
                   !(exception instanceof IllegalAccessException) &&
                   !(exception instanceof InvocationTargetException))
                        continue; // Look for other parse methods*/

                // Parse method refuses to parse, look for another different method
                continue; // Look for other parse methods
            }
        }
    }

    // No more accessible parse method could be found.
    if(foundAtLeastOne) return false;
    else throw new RuntimeException(new NoSuchMethodException());
}


/**
 * METHOD: willParse<p><p>
 * 
 * A convienence method which calls the isParseable method, but does not throw any exceptions
 * which could be thrown through programatic errors.<p>
 * 
 * Use of {@link #isParseable(Object, String) isParseable} is recommended for use so programatic
 * errors can be caught in development, unless the value of the <code>parser</code> parameter is
 * unpredictable, or normal programtic exceptions should be ignored.<p>
 * 
 * See {@link #isParseable(Object, String) isParseable} for full description of method
 * usability.<p>
 * 
 * @param parser    The Class type or instantiated Object to find a parse method in.
 * @param str   The String you want to parse
 * 
 * @return true if a parse method was found and completed without exception
 * @see #isParseable(Object, String) for full description of method usability 
 */
public static boolean willParse(Object parser, String str) {
    try {
        return isParsable(parser, str);
    } catch(Throwable exception) {
        return false;
    }
}

Answer 6

I modified CraigTP's solution to accept scientific notation and both dot and comma as decimal separators as well

^-?\d+([,\.]\d+)?([eE]-?\d+)?$

example

var re = new RegExp("^-?\d+([,\.]\d+)?([eE]-?\d+)?$");
re.test("-6546"); // true
re.test("-6546355e-4456"); // true
re.test("-6546.355e-4456"); // true, though debatable
re.test("-6546.35.5e-4456"); // false
re.test("-6546.35.5e-4456.6"); // false