Convert decimal to unsigned decimal (or string?) in C#

Question

I have a variable, DifferenceAmt, which is a decimal. It can be either negative or positive. I need to output the value of DifferenceAmt, but without the negative sign if it's negative, as a string. I know how to delete the negative sign by checking first if DifferenceAmt is less than zero, and then doing a substring from the 2nd character if it is, but this seems cumbersome. I've tried converting DifferenceAmt to a UInt64 first,

UInt64 differenceamt = (UInt64)DifferenceAmt;

but I keep getting an error message that the number is too big for a UInt64 (even when it's -10, for example). How can I do this?

Worked perfectly! Thank you Ulugbek! If you post this as an answer, I'll up-vote it. — Melanie, Jun 05 '14 at 16:35

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 05 '14 at 17:15

There are multiple available ways to do it. The simplest way is to use absolute value using Math.Abs.

decimal x = -10.53m;
string s = Math.Abs(x).ToString(); // 10.53

Another way is to use custom NumberFormatInfo with empty NegativeSign.

decimal x = -10.53m;
string s = x.ToString(new NumberFormatInfo { NegativeSign = string.Empty }); // 10.53

One more way is to use custom formatter for positive/negative numbers. But you have to specify custom string format in such case. More on this: The ";" Section Separator.

decimal x = -10.53m;
string s = x.ToString("#.##;#.##") // 10.53

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 05 '14 at 16:28

3

Use Math.Abs(DifferenceAmt).ToString(); This will give you the absolute value of the number and remove the negative sign.

answered Jun 05 '14 at 16:28

Jesse Petronio

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score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 05 '14 at 16:33

Use Math.Abs(differenceAmt) to get the absolute value.

Casting to UInt64 won't work. Your example of -10 is outside the range of UInt64, and it would similarly fail for other Decimal values outside the range of UInt64. It would also have to truncate the value to an integer.

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 05 '14 at 16:32

2

You can use this:

Math.Abs(differenceAmt).ToString();

see this:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/a4ke8e73(v=vs.110).aspx

edited Jun 05 '14 at 16:32

Brandon

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answered Jun 05 '14 at 16:30

m.Khaki

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This isn't `C#` code... I have done your job for you and edited the post. – Brandon Jun 05 '14 at 16:31
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@user3359388 - it wasn't valid code before Brandon's edit. Capitalization matters! – Robert Levy Jun 05 '14 at 16:38
Indeed, capitalization is very very important in C#. – BradleyDotNET Jun 05 '14 at 16:43

Convert decimal to unsigned decimal (or string?) in C#

4 Answers4