From: Dave Thomas <Dave@...>
Date: 2002-03-28T12:43:13+09:00
Subject: Re: parsing strings into numbers

"Chris Morris" <chrismo@charter.net> writes:

> ... but for any string value, how can I do a proper conversion? I want a
> routine like this:
> 
>   def convertString(value)
>     # do magic stuff to convert value to proper Numeric,
>     # assuming it's a valid Numeric representation
>   end
> 
> I'd love to be able to call a Ruby routine to do this for me, same as the
> parser does when reading in a script.

Kinda messy, but you can do

  result = Integer(value) rescue Float(value)

or

  result = Integer(value) rescue Float(value) rescue nil

(depending on whether you want an exception or nil for an invalid
number).


If you're assuming a valid number, you can also use the evil "eval".


Cheers


Dave