How to determine if a string is a number with C++?

Question

I've had quite a bit of trouble trying to write a function that checks if a string is a number. For a game I am writing I just need to check if a line from the file I am reading is a number or not (I will know if it is a parameter this way). I wrote the below function which I believe was working smoothly (or I accidentally edited to stop it or I'm schizophrenic or Windows is schizophrenic):

bool isParam (string line)
{
    if (isdigit(atoi(line.c_str())))
        return true;

    return false;
}

Answer 1

I just wanted to throw in this idea that uses iteration but some other code does that iteration:

#include <string.h>

bool is_number(const std::string& s)
{
    return( strspn( s.c_str(), "-.0123456789" ) == s.size() );
}

It's not robust like it should be when checking for a decimal point or minus sign since it allows there to be more than one of each and in any location. The good thing is that it's a single line of code and doesn't require a third-party library.

Take out the '.' and '-' if positive integers are all that are allowed.

Answer 2

With this solution you can check everything from negative to positive numbers and even float numbers. When you change the type of num to integer you will get an error if the string contains a point.

#include<iostream>
#include<sstream>
using namespace std;


int main()
{
      string s;

      cin >> s;

      stringstream ss;
      ss << s;

      float num = 0;

      ss >> num;

      if(ss.good()) {
          cerr << "No Valid Number" << endl;
      }
      else if(num == 0 && s[0] != '0') {
          cerr << "No Valid Number" << endl;
      }
      else {
          cout << num<< endl;
      }             
}

Prove: C++ Program

Answer 3

include <string>

For Validating Doubles:

bool validateDouble(const std::string & input) {
int decimals = std::count(input.begin(), input.end(), '.'); // The number of decimals in the string
int negativeSigns = std::count(input.begin(), input.end(), '-'); // The number of negative signs in the string

if (input.size() == decimals + negativeSigns) // Consists of only decimals and negatives or is empty
    return false;
else if (1 < decimals || 1 < negativeSigns) // More than 1 decimal or negative sign
    return false;
else if (1 == negativeSigns && input[0] != '-') // The negative sign (if there is one) is not the first character
    return false;
else if (strspn(input.c_str(), "-.0123456789") != input.size()) // The string contains a character that isn't in "-.0123456789"
    return false;
return true;

}

For Validating Ints (With Negatives)

bool validateInt(const std::string & input) {
int negativeSigns = std::count(input.begin(), input.end(), '-'); // The number of negative signs in the string

if (input.size() == negativeSigns) // Consists of only negatives or is empty
    return false;
else if (1 < negativeSigns) // More than 1 negative sign
    return false;
else if (1 == negativeSigns && input[0] != '-') // The negative sign (if there is one) is not the first character
    return false;
else if (strspn(input.c_str(), "-0123456789") != input.size()) // The string contains a character that isn't in "-0123456789"
    return false;
return true;

}

For Validating Unsigned Ints

bool validateUnsignedInt(const std::string & input) {
return (input.size() != 0 && strspn(input.c_str(), "0123456789") == input.size()); // The string is not empty and contains characters only in "0123456789"

}

Answer 4

Yet another answer, that uses stold (though you could also use stof/stod if you don't require the precision).

bool isNumeric(const std::string& string)
{
    std::size_t pos;
    long double value = 0.0;

    try
    {
        value = std::stold(string, &pos);
    }
    catch(std::invalid_argument&)
    {
        return false;
    }
    catch(std::out_of_range&)
    {
        return false;
    }

    return pos == string.size() && !std::isnan(value);
}

Answer 5

You can do it the C++ way with boost::lexical_cast. If you really insist on not using boost you can just examine what it does and do that. It's pretty simple.

try 
{
  double x = boost::lexical_cast<double>(str); // double could be anything with >> operator.
}
catch(...) { oops, not a number }

Answer 6

Here's another way of doing it using the <regex> library:

bool is_integer(const std::string & s){
    return std::regex_match(s, std::regex("[(-|+)|][0-9]+"));
}