How do I parse a string to a float or int in Pytho

Question

In Python, how can I parse a numeric string like "545.2222" to its corresponding float value, 542.2222? Or parse the string "31" to an integer, 31?

I just want to know how to parse a float string to a float, and (separately) an int string to an int.

Answer 1

This is another method which deserves to be mentioned here, ast.literal_eval:

This can be used for safely evaluating strings containing Python expressions from untrusted sources without the need to parse the values oneself.

That is, a safe 'eval'

>>> import ast
>>> ast.literal_eval("545.2222")
545.2222
>>> ast.literal_eval("31")
31

Answer 2

The question seems a little bit old. But let me suggest a function, parseStr, which makes something similar, that is, returns integer or float and if a given ASCII string cannot be converted to none of them it returns it untouched. The code of course might be adjusted to do only what you want:

   >>> import string
   >>> parseStr = lambda x: x.isalpha() and x or x.isdigit() and \
   ...                      int(x) or x.isalnum() and x or \
   ...                      len(set(string.punctuation).intersection(x)) == 1 and \
   ...                      x.count('.') == 1 and float(x) or x
   >>> parseStr('123')
   123
   >>> parseStr('123.3')
   123.3
   >>> parseStr('3HC1')
   '3HC1'
   >>> parseStr('12.e5')
   1200000.0
   >>> parseStr('12$5')
   '12$5'
   >>> parseStr('12.2.2')
   '12.2.2'

Answer 3

def get_int_or_float(v):
    number_as_float = float(v)
    number_as_int = int(number_as_float)
    return number_as_int if number_as_float == number_as_int else number_as_float

Answer 4

Here's another interpretation of your question (hint: it's vague). It's possible you're looking for something like this:

def parseIntOrFloat( aString ):
    return eval( aString )

It works like this...

>>> parseIntOrFloat("545.2222")
545.22220000000004
>>> parseIntOrFloat("545")
545

---

Theoretically, there's an injection vulnerability. The string could, for example be "import os; os.abort()". Without any background on where the string comes from, however, the possibility is theoretical speculation. Since the question is vague, it's not at all clear if this vulnerability actually exists or not.

Answer 5

Python method to check if a string is a float:

def is_float(value):
  try:
    float(value)
    return True
  except:
    return False

A longer and more accurate name for this function could be: is_convertible_to_float(value)

What is, and is not a float in Python may surprise you:

val                   is_float(val) Note
--------------------  ----------   --------------------------------
""                    False        Blank string
"127"                 True         Passed string
True                  True         Pure sweet Truth
"True"                False        Vile contemptible lie
False                 True         So false it becomes true
"123.456"             True         Decimal
"      -127    "      True         Spaces trimmed
"\t\n12\r\n"          True         whitespace ignored
"NaN"                 True         Not a number
"NaNanananaBATMAN"    False        I am Batman
"-iNF"                True         Negative infinity
"123.E4"              True         Exponential notation
".1"                  True         mantissa only
"1,234"               False        Commas gtfo
u'\x30'               True         Unicode is fine.
"NULL"                False        Null is not special
0x3fade               True         Hexadecimal
"6e7777777777777"     True         Shrunk to infinity
"1.797693e+308"       True         This is max value
"infinity"            True         Same as inf
"infinityandBEYOND"   False        Extra characters wreck it
"12.34.56"            False        Only one dot allowed
u'四'                 False        Japanese '4' is not a float.
"#56"                 False        Pound sign
"56%"                 False        Percent of what?
"0E0"                 True         Exponential, move dot 0 places
0**0                  True         0___0  Exponentiation
"-5e-5"               True         Raise to a negative number
"+1e1"                True         Plus is OK with exponent
"+1e1^5"              False        Fancy exponent not interpreted
"+1e1.3"              False        No decimals in exponent
"-+1"                 False        Make up your mind
"(1)"                 False        Parenthesis is bad

You think you know what numbers are? You are not so good as you think! Not big surprise.

Answer 6

I use this function for that

import ast

def parse_str(s):
   try:
      return ast.literal_eval(str(s))
   except:
      return

It will convert the string to its type

value = parse_str('1')  # Returns Integer
value = parse_str('1.5')  # Returns Float