How do I check if a string is a number (float)?

Question

What is the best possible way to check if a string can be represented as a number in Python?

The function I currently have right now is:

def is_numb         


        

Answer 1

Updated after Alfe pointed out you don't need to check for float separately as complex handles both:

def is_number(s):
    try:
        complex(s) # for int, long, float and complex
    except ValueError:
        return False

    return True

---

Previously said: Is some rare cases you might also need to check for complex numbers (e.g. 1+2i), which can not be represented by a float:

def is_number(s):
    try:
        float(s) # for int, long and float
    except ValueError:
        try:
            complex(s) # for complex
        except ValueError:
            return False

    return True