How do I parse a string with a decimal point to a double?

Question

I want to parse a string like \"3.5\" to a double. However,

double.Parse(\"3.5\") 

yields 35 and

double.Pars         


        

Answer 1

Instead of having to specify a locale in all parses, I prefer to set an application wide locale, although if string formats are not consistent across the app, this might not work.

CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentCulture = new CultureInfo("pt-PT");
CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentUICulture = new CultureInfo("pt-PT");

Defining this at the begining of your application will make all double parses expect a comma as the decimal delimiter. You can set an appropriate locale so that the decimal and thousands separator fits the strings you are parsing.

Answer 2

I improved the code of @JanW as well...

I need it to format results from medical instruments, and they also send ">1000", "23.3e02", "350E-02", and "NEGATIVE".

private string FormatResult(string vResult)
{
  string output;
  string input = vResult;

  // Unify string (no spaces, only .)
  output = input.Trim().Replace(" ", "").Replace(",", ".");

  // Split it on points
  string[] split = output.Split('.');

  if (split.Count() > 1)
  {
    // Take all parts except last
    output = string.Join("", split.Take(split.Count() - 1).ToArray());

    // Combine token parts with last part
    output = string.Format("{0}.{1}", output, split.Last());
  }
  string sfirst = output.Substring(0, 1);

  try
  {
    if (sfirst == "<" || sfirst == ">")
    {
      output = output.Replace(sfirst, "");
      double res = Double.Parse(output);
      return String.Format("{1}{0:0.####}", res, sfirst);
    }
    else
    {
      double res = Double.Parse(output);
      return String.Format("{0:0.####}", res);
    }
  }
  catch
  {
    return output;
  }
}

Answer 3

I think it is the best answer:

public static double StringToDouble(string toDouble)
{
    toDouble = toDouble.Replace(",", "."); //Replace every comma with dot

    //Count dots in toDouble, and if there is more than one dot, throw an exception.
    //Value such as "123.123.123" can't be converted to double
    int dotCount = 0;
    foreach (char c in toDouble) if (c == '.') dotCount++; //Increments dotCount for each dot in toDouble
    if (dotCount > 1) throw new Exception(); //If in toDouble is more than one dot, it means that toCount is not a double

    string left = toDouble.Split('.')[0]; //Everything before the dot
    string right = toDouble.Split('.')[1]; //Everything after the dot

    int iLeft = int.Parse(left); //Convert strings to ints
    int iRight = int.Parse(right);

    //We must use Math.Pow() instead of ^
    double d = iLeft + (iRight * Math.Pow(10, -(right.Length)));
    return d;
}

Answer 4

double.Parse("3.5", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)

Answer 5

I usualy use a multi-culture function to parse user input, mostly because if someone is used to the numpad and is using a culture that use a comma as the decimal separator, that person will use the point of the numpad instead of a comma.

public static double GetDouble(string value, double defaultValue)
{
    double result;

    //Try parsing in the current culture
    if (!double.TryParse(value, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, out result) &&
        //Then try in US english
        !double.TryParse(value, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"), out result) &&
        //Then in neutral language
        !double.TryParse(value, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out result))
    {
        result = defaultValue;
    }

    return result;
}

Beware though, @nikie comments are true. To my defense, I use this function in a controlled environment where I know that the culture can either be en-US, en-CA or fr-CA. I use this function because in French, we use the comma as a decimal separator, but anybody who ever worked in finance will always use the decimal separator on the numpad, but this is a point, not a comma. So even in the fr-CA culture, I need to parse number that will have a point as the decimal separator.

Answer 6

I couldn't write a comment, so I write here:

double.Parse("3.5", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) is not a good idea, because in Canada we write 3,5 instead of 3.5 and this function gives us 35 as a result.

I tested both on my computer:

double.Parse("3.5", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) --> 3.5 OK
double.Parse("3,5", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) --> 35 not OK

This is a correct way that Pierre-Alain Vigeant mentioned

public static double GetDouble(string value, double defaultValue)
{
    double result;

    // Try parsing in the current culture
    if (!double.TryParse(value, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, out result) &&
        // Then try in US english
        !double.TryParse(value, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"), out result) &&
        // Then in neutral language
        !double.TryParse(value, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out result))
    {
        result = defaultValue;
    }
    return result;
}