How to check if a String is numeric in Java

Question

How would you check if a String was a number before parsing it?

Answer 1

Do not use Exceptions to validate your values. Use Util libs instead like apache NumberUtils:

NumberUtils.isNumber(myStringValue);

Edit:

Please notice that, if your string starts with an 0, NumberUtils will interpret your value as hexadecimal.

NumberUtils.isNumber("07") //true
NumberUtils.isNumber("08") //false