What is the C# equivalent of NaN or IsNumeric?

Question

What is the most efficient way of testing an input string whether it contains a numeric value (or conversely Not A Number)? I guess I can use Double.Parse or a

Answer 1

I like the extension method, but don't like throwing exceptions if possible. I opted for an extension method taking the best of 2 answers here.

    /// <summary>
    /// Extension method that works out if a string is numeric or not
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="str">string that may be a number</param>
    /// <returns>true if numeric, false if not</returns>
    public static bool IsNumeric(this String str)
    {
        double myNum = 0;
        if (Double.TryParse(str, out myNum))
        {
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }

Answer 2

You can still use the Visual Basic function in C#. The only thing you have to do is just follow my instructions shown below:

1. Add the reference to the Visual Basic Library by right clicking on your project and selecting "Add Reference":

2. Then import it in your class as shown below:

   using Microsoft.VisualBasic;

3. Next use it wherever you want as shown below:

               if (!Information.IsNumeric(softwareVersion))
           {
               throw new DataException(string.Format("[{0}] is an invalid App Version!  Only numeric values are supported at this time.", softwareVersion));
           }
   

Hope, this helps and good luck!

Answer 3

I prefer something like this, it lets you decide what NumberStyle to test for.

public static Boolean IsNumeric(String input, NumberStyles numberStyle) {
    Double temp;
    Boolean result = Double.TryParse(input, numberStyle, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, out temp);
    return result;
}

Answer 4

This doesn't have the regex overhead

double myNum = 0;
String testVar = "Not A Number";

if (Double.TryParse(testVar, out myNum)) {
  // it is a number
} else {
  // it is not a number
}

Incidentally, all of the standard data types, with the glaring exception of GUIDs, support TryParse.

update
secretwep brought up that the value "2345," will pass the above test as a number. However, if you need to ensure that all of the characters within the string are digits, then another approach should be taken.

example 1:

public Boolean IsNumber(String s) {
  Boolean value = true;
  foreach(Char c in s.ToCharArray()) {
    value = value && Char.IsDigit(c);
  }

  return value;
}

or if you want to be a little more fancy

public Boolean IsNumber(String value) {
  return value.All(Char.IsDigit);
}

update 2 ( from @stackonfire to deal with null or empty strings)

public Boolean IsNumber(String s) { 
    Boolean value = true; 
    if (s == String.Empty || s == null) { 
        value=false; 
    } else { 
        foreach(Char c in s.ToCharArray()) { 
            value = value && Char.IsDigit(c); 
        } 
    } return value; 
}

Answer 5

public static bool IsNumeric(string anyString)
{
    if (anyString == null)
    {
        anyString = "";
    }

    if (anyString.Length > 0)
    {
        double dummyOut = new double();
        System.Globalization.CultureInfo cultureInfo = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US", true);
        return Double.TryParse(anyString, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Any, cultureInfo.NumberFormat, out dummyOut);
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}

Answer 6

I was using Chris Lively's snippet (selected answer) encapsulated in a bool function like Gishu's suggestion for a year or two. I used it to make sure certain query strings were only numeric before proceeding with further processing. I started getting some errant querystrings that the marked answer was not handling, specifically, whenever a comma was passed after a number like "3645," (returned true). This is the resulting mod:

   static public bool IsNumeric(string s)
   {
      double myNum = 0;
      if (Double.TryParse(s, out myNum))
      {
         if (s.Contains(",")) return false;
         return true;
      }
      else
      {
         return false;
      }
   }