Identify if a string is a number

Question

If I have these strings:

1. \"abc\" = false

2. \"123\" = true

3. \"ab2\"

Answer 1

If you want to catch a broader spectrum of numbers, à la PHP's is_numeric, you can use the following:

// From PHP documentation for is_numeric
// (http://php.net/manual/en/function.is-numeric.php)

// Finds whether the given variable is numeric.

// Numeric strings consist of optional sign, any number of digits, optional decimal part and optional
// exponential part. Thus +0123.45e6 is a valid numeric value.

// Hexadecimal (e.g. 0xf4c3b00c), Binary (e.g. 0b10100111001), Octal (e.g. 0777) notation is allowed too but
// only without sign, decimal and exponential part.
static readonly Regex _isNumericRegex =
    new Regex(  "^(" +
                /*Hex*/ @"0x[0-9a-f]+"  + "|" +
                /*Bin*/ @"0b[01]+"      + "|" + 
                /*Oct*/ @"0[0-7]*"      + "|" +
                /*Dec*/ @"((?!0)|[-+]|(?=0+\.))(\d*\.)?\d+(e\d+)?" + 
                ")$" );
static bool IsNumeric( string value )
{
    return _isNumericRegex.IsMatch( value );
}

Unit Test:

static void IsNumericTest()
{
    string[] l_unitTests = new string[] { 
        "123",      /* TRUE */
        "abc",      /* FALSE */
        "12.3",     /* TRUE */
        "+12.3",    /* TRUE */
        "-12.3",    /* TRUE */
        "1.23e2",   /* TRUE */
        "-1e23",    /* TRUE */
        "1.2ef",    /* FALSE */
        "0x0",      /* TRUE */
        "0xfff",    /* TRUE */
        "0xf1f",    /* TRUE */
        "0xf1g",    /* FALSE */
        "0123",     /* TRUE */
        "0999",     /* FALSE (not octal) */
        "+0999",    /* TRUE (forced decimal) */
        "0b0101",   /* TRUE */
        "0b0102"    /* FALSE */
    };

    foreach ( string l_unitTest in l_unitTests )
        Console.WriteLine( l_unitTest + " => " + IsNumeric( l_unitTest ).ToString() );

    Console.ReadKey( true );
}

Keep in mind that just because a value is numeric doesn't mean it can be converted to a numeric type. For example, "999999999999999999999999999999.9999999999" is a perfeclty valid numeric value, but it won't fit into a .NET numeric type (not one defined in the standard library, that is).

Answer 2

If you want to check if a string is a number (I'm assuming it's a string since if it's a number, duh, you know it's one).

• Without regex and
• using Microsoft's code as much as possible

you could also do:

public static bool IsNumber(this string aNumber)
{
     BigInteger temp_big_int;
     var is_number = BigInteger.TryParse(aNumber, out temp_big_int);
     return is_number;
}

This will take care of the usual nasties:

• Minus (-) or Plus (+) in the beginning
• contains decimal character BigIntegers won't parse numbers with decimal points. (So: BigInteger.Parse("3.3") will throw an exception, and TryParse for the same will return false)
• no funny non-digits
• covers cases where the number is bigger than the usual use of Double.TryParse

You'll have to add a reference to System.Numerics and have using System.Numerics; on top of your class (well, the second is a bonus I guess :)

Answer 3

This will return true if input is all numbers. Don't know if it's any better than TryParse, but it will work.

Regex.IsMatch(input, @"^\d+$")

If you just want to know if it has one or more numbers mixed in with characters, leave off the ^ + and $.

Regex.IsMatch(input, @"\d")

Edit: Actually I think it is better than TryParse because a very long string could potentially overflow TryParse.

Answer 4

I've used this function several times:

public static bool IsNumeric(object Expression)
{
    double retNum;

    bool isNum = Double.TryParse(Convert.ToString(Expression), System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Any, System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, out retNum);
    return isNum;
}

But you can also use;

bool b1 = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Information.IsNumeric("1"); //true
bool b2 = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Information.IsNumeric("1aa"); // false

From Benchmarking IsNumeric Options

_{(source: aspalliance.com)}

_{(source: aspalliance.com)}

Answer 5

UPDATE of Kunal Noel Answer

stringTest.All(char.IsDigit);
// This returns true if all characters of the string are digits.

But, for this case we have that empty strings will pass that test, so, you can:

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(stringTest) && stringTest.All(char.IsDigit)){
   // Do your logic here
}

Answer 6

The best flexible solution with .net built-in function called- char.IsDigit. It works with unlimited long numbers. It will only return true if each character is a numeric number. I used it lot of times with no issues and much easily cleaner solution I ever found. I made a example method.Its ready to use. In addition I added validation for null and empty input. So the method is now totally bulletproof

public static bool IsNumeric(string strNumber)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(strNumber))
        {
            return false;
        }
        else
        {
            int numberOfChar = strNumber.Count();
            if (numberOfChar > 0)
            {
                bool r = strNumber.All(char.IsDigit);
                return r;
            }
            else
            {
                return false;
            }
        }
    }