How to detect Infinity values in Scala?

Question

Scala has Double.isNaN for detecting not-a-number but no Double.isInf for detecting (positive or negative) infinity.

Why? I'd like to check whether a parameter is a "real" number (i.e. has a numeric value). Converting it to a string and checking for "inf" or something will do it, but there must be a better way?

Like in C++: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/numeric/math/isinf

Using Scala 2.10

score 24 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 17 '13 at 08:51

24

Scala's Double has an isInfinite method, and Neg/Pos variants:

scala> val a = 22.0
a: Double = 22.0

scala> a.isInfinite
res0: Boolean = false

scala> val b = 2.0/0
b: Double = Infinity

scala> b.isInfinite
res1: Boolean = true

scala> b.isPosInfinity
res4: Boolean = true

answered Jun 17 '13 at 08:51

gourlaysama

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Thanks. Don't know how I missed it. – akauppi Jun 17 '13 at 08:54
1

@akauppi Maybe because the REPL doesn't autocomplete it. I see eclipse will offer it. – som-snytt Jun 17 '13 at 16:23
@som-snytt oh, good point. IDEA does show them. (I think the Netbeans plugin too) – gourlaysama Jun 17 '13 at 16:30

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '13 at 08:56

4

What everyone else has said, plus this: the reason for the separate isNaN is that comparison with NaN is special:

scala> val bar = Double.NaN
bar: Double = NaN

scala> bar == Double.NaN
res0: Boolean = false

No such rules apply for infinity, so there is no need for a special check function (except for the convenience of handling the sign):

scala> val foo: Double = Double.PositiveInfinity
foo: Double = Infinity

scala> foo == Double.PositiveInfinity
res1: Boolean = true

answered Jun 17 '13 at 08:56

themel

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Thanks. What I find slightly confusing is that Double.PositiveInfinity uses the (too) long wording, whereas Double.isPosInfinity uses a shorter one. – akauppi Jun 17 '13 at 09:33

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 17 '13 at 08:51

1

The method actually is there. It's just called isInfinity instead of isInf.

See scaladocs for RichDouble line 36: https://github.com/scala/scala/blob/v2.10.2/src/library/scala/runtime/RichDouble.scala#L36

answered Jun 17 '13 at 08:51

Jens Egholm

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How to detect Infinity values in Scala?

3 Answers3