How to convert string into float in JavaScript?

Question

I am trying to parse two values from a datagrid.
The fields are numeric, and when they have a comma (ex. 554,20), I can't get the numbers after the comma.
I've tried parseInt and parseFloat. How can I do this?

Answer 1

I had the same problem except I did not know in advance what were the thousands separators and the decimal separator. I ended up writing a library to do this. If you are interested it here it is : https://github.com/GuillaumeLeclerc/number-parsing

Answer 2

If they're meant to be separate values, try this:

var values = "554,20".split(",")
var v1 = parseFloat(values[0])
var v2 = parseFloat(values[1])

If they're meant to be a single value (like in French, where one-half is written 0,5)

var value = parseFloat("554,20".replace(",", "."));

Answer 3

@GusDeCool or anyone else trying to replace more than one thousands separators, one way to do it is a regex global replace: /foo/g. Just remember that . is a metacharacter, so you have to escape it or put it in brackets (\. or [.]). Here's one option:

var str = '6.000.000';
str.replace(/[.]/g,",");

Answer 4

Replace the comma with a dot.

This will only return 554:

var value = parseFloat("554,20")

This will return 554.20:

var value = parseFloat("554.20")

So in the end, you can simply use:

var fValue = parseFloat(document.getElementById("textfield").value.replace(",","."))

Don't forget that parseInt() should only be used to parse integers (no floating points). In your case it will only return 554. Additionally, calling parseInt() on a float will not round the number: it will take its floor (closest lower integer).

---

Extended example to answer Pedro Ferreira's question from the comments:

If the textfield contains thousands separator dots like in 1.234.567,99 those could be eliminated beforehand with another replace:

var fValue = parseFloat(document.getElementById("textfield").value.replace(/\./g,"").replace(",","."))

Answer 5

You can use this function. It will replace the commas with ' ' and then it will parseFlaot the value and after that it will again adjust the commas in value.

function convertToFloat(val) {
        if (val != '') {
            if (val.indexOf(',') !== -1)
                val.replace(',', '');
            val = parseFloat(val);
            while (/(\d+)(\d{3})/.test(val.toString())) {
                val = val.toString().replace(/(\d+)(\d{3})/, '$1' + ',' + '$2');
            }
        }
        return val;
    }

Answer 6

Have you ever tried to do this? :p

var str = '3.8';ie
alert( +(str) + 0.2 );

+(string) will cast string into float.

Handy!

So in order to solve your problem, you can do something like this:

var floatValue = +(str.replace(/,/,'.'));