converting string to decimal in c#

Question

I am having some problems converting string to decimal values with decimal.parse. This is the line of code I have:

fixPrice = decimal.Parse(mItemParts.Groups["price"].Value.Replace("$", "").Replace(" ", "").Replace("usd", ""));

The value from which I am trying to convert is: '$779.99'

Then once the parsing to decimal happens, I am getting this value: 77999.

I would like to get 779.99 instead of 77999. Thanks in advance, Laziale

Regex included: "@"\[^\""]+?)\""[^~]+?\]+?src=\""(?[^\""]+?)\""[^>]+?title=\""(?[^\""]+?)\""[^~]+?price\"">(?[^\<]+?)\<[^~]+?\(?[^\<]+?)\

It looks like you are using a Regular Expression to get the price, what is the expression that you are using? — CraigW, Apr 13 '12 at 17:07
@CraigW Regex included. The final product I am getting from the regex is $779.99 — Laziale, Apr 13 '12 at 17:08

James Hill · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-13T17:22:31.090

6

I would use Decimal.TryParse():

decimal parsedDecimal = 0;
string yourCurrency = "$779.99";
bool didParse = Decimal.TryParse(yourCurrency,
                                 NumberStyles.Currency,
                                 new CultureInfo("en-US"), out parsedDecimal);

if(didParse) {
    // Parse succeeded
}
else {
    // Parse failed
}

edited Apr 13 '12 at 17:22

answered Apr 13 '12 at 17:12

James Hill

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2

`CurrentCulture` might not be the best choice. – Odys Apr 13 '12 at 17:13
1

You should check the bool return value of TryParse to see if the parsing succeeded. – Steve Wong Apr 13 '12 at 17:14
@Commenters, sometimes I think I can sneak a quick and dirty sample in as an answer, then I remember this is SO :). I've updated my answer to reflect your suggestions. – James Hill Apr 13 '12 at 17:18
1

But this doesn't help the OP, who (1) knows the input string is valid, and (2) has a successful parse that returns an incorrect value. – phoog Apr 13 '12 at 17:19
@JamesHill: No worries, you still got my vote :). If I can nitpick again, your comments are wrong :) – Steve Wong Apr 13 '12 at 17:19
@SteveWong, lol. They weren't before I edited my answer :). I need to stop multi-tasking. Apparently, I'm miserable at it! – James Hill Apr 13 '12 at 17:22

phoog · Answer 2 · 2012-04-13T17:32:42.013

3

It appears that you are running this in a culture where '.' is the group separator, and ',' is the decimal separator. To get around that, use the Parse overload that takes a CultureInfo:

fixPrice = decimal.Parse(stringExpression, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

Also look into the NumberStyles enum so you don't have to worry about currency signs yourself:

fixPrice = decimal.Parse(stringExpression, NumberStyles.Currency, new CultureInfo("en-US"));

edited Apr 13 '12 at 17:32

answered Apr 13 '12 at 17:09

phoog

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In this way it being made sure that the string format will always be correct. What about `TryParse` ? – Pankaj Apr 13 '12 at 17:13
@PankajGarg Of course, `TryParse` is preferable if the OP is not sure whether the input will be valid. – phoog Apr 13 '12 at 17:15
According to LINQPad, none of these samples work - `FormatException - Input string was not in a correct format`. – James Hill Apr 13 '12 at 17:25
@JamesHill the first sample is supposed to work with "779.99" (as in the OP's example), and for me, it does. I have corrected the second example (InvariantCulture doesn't use "$" as the currency symbol); thanks for pointing out the error. – phoog Apr 13 '12 at 17:32

Odys · Answer 3 · 2012-04-13T17:32:31.013

2

Pass a CultureInfo instance of the culture you are parsing from.

CultureInfo inherits from IFormatProvider

edit:

Here is a sample for the conversion

Decimal.Parse(yourValue, NumberStyles.AllowCurrencySymbol |
                         NumberStyles.AllowDecimalPoint   |
                         NumberStyles.AllowThousands,
              CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

edited Apr 13 '12 at 17:32

answered Apr 13 '12 at 17:08

Odys

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The value is clearly a monetary value; decimal is the more appropriate type. – phoog Apr 13 '12 at 17:11
If often happens to have values with more than 5 digits to parse. – Odys Apr 13 '12 at 17:12
@odyodyodys decimal has greater precision than double. – phoog Apr 13 '12 at 17:21

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 13 '12 at 17:15

1

This works for me:

string decStr = "$779.99";
CultureInfo ci = new CultureInfo("en-US");
decimal fixPrice = decimal.Parse(decStr, NumberStyles.Currency, ci);

answered Apr 13 '12 at 17:15

Petr Abdulin

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converting string to decimal in c#

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