Convert a number enclosed in parentheses (string) to a negative integer (or float) using Python?

Question

In Python, what is the simplest way to convert a number enclosed in parentheses (string) to a negative integer (or float)?

For example, \'(4,301)\' to -4301, as commonly

Answer 1

Since you are reading from a system that put in thousands separators, it's worth mentioning that we are not using them the same way all around the world, which is why you should consider using a locale system. Consider:

import locale
locale.setlocale( locale.LC_ALL, 'en_US.UTF-8' )
my_str = "(4,301)"
result = -locale.atoi(my_str.translate(None,"()"))