How to parse a string to an int in C++?

Question

What's the C++ way of parsing a string (given as char *) into an int? Robust and clear error handling is a plus (instead of returning zero).

Answer 1

The C++ String Toolkit Library (StrTk) has the following solution:

static const std::size_t digit_table_symbol_count = 256;
static const unsigned char digit_table[digit_table_symbol_count] = {
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xFF - 0x07
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x08 - 0x0F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x10 - 0x17
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x18 - 0x1F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x20 - 0x27
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x28 - 0x2F
   0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, // 0x30 - 0x37
   0x08, 0x09, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x38 - 0x3F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x40 - 0x47
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x48 - 0x4F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x50 - 0x57
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x58 - 0x5F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x60 - 0x67
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x68 - 0x6F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x70 - 0x77
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x78 - 0x7F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x80 - 0x87
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x88 - 0x8F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x90 - 0x97
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0x98 - 0x9F
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xA0 - 0xA7
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xA8 - 0xAF
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xB0 - 0xB7
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xB8 - 0xBF
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xC0 - 0xC7
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xC8 - 0xCF
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xD0 - 0xD7
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xD8 - 0xDF
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xE0 - 0xE7
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xE8 - 0xEF
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, // 0xF0 - 0xF7
   0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF  // 0xF8 - 0xFF
 };

template<typename InputIterator, typename T>
inline bool string_to_signed_type_converter_impl_itr(InputIterator begin, InputIterator end, T& v)
{
   if (0 == std::distance(begin,end))
      return false;
   v = 0;
   InputIterator it = begin;
   bool negative = false;
   if ('+' == *it)
      ++it;
   else if ('-' == *it)
   {
      ++it;
      negative = true;
   }
   if (end == it)
      return false;
   while(end != it)
   {
      const T digit = static_cast<T>(digit_table[static_cast<unsigned int>(*it++)]);
      if (0xFF == digit)
         return false;
      v = (10 * v) + digit;
   }
   if (negative)
      v *= -1;
   return true;
}

The InputIterator can be of either unsigned char*, char* or std::string iterators, and T is expected to be a signed int, such as signed int, int, or long

Answer 2

You could use this defined method.

#define toInt(x) {atoi(x.c_str())};

And if you were to convert from String to an Integer, you would just do the following.

int main()
{
string test = "46", test2 = "56";
int a = toInt(test);
int b = toInt(test2);
cout<<a+b<<endl;
}

The output would be 102.

Answer 3

If you have C++11, the appropriate solutions nowadays are the C++ integer conversion functions in <string>: stoi, stol, stoul, stoll, stoull. They throw appropriate exceptions when given incorrect input and use the fast and small strto* functions under the hood.

If you are stuck with an earlier revision of C++, it would be forward-portable of you to mimic these functions in your implementation.

Answer 4

You can use the a stringstream from the C++ standard libraray:

stringstream ss(str);
int x;
ss >> x;

if(ss) { // <-- error handling
  // use x
} else {
  // not a number
}

The stream state will be set to fail if a non-digit is encountered when trying to read an integer.

See Stream pitfalls for pitfalls of errorhandling and streams in C++.

Answer 5

You can use Boost's lexical_cast, which wraps this in a more generic interface. lexical_cast<Target>(Source) throws bad_lexical_cast on failure.