In Php, how to get float value from a mixed string?

Question

I got a string like:

$str = "CASH55.35inMyPocket";

I want to get 55.35 only.

I tried:

$str = floatval("CASH55.35inMyPocket");
if ($str > 0) {
    echo "Greater_Zero";
} else {
    echo "LessZERO!!";
}
// echo "LessZERO!!";

I also tried:

$str = (float)"CASH55.35inMyPocket";
if ($str > 0) {
    echo "Greater_Zero";
} else {
    echo "LessZERO!!";
}
// echo "LessZERO!!";

According to the Documentation:

Strings will most likely return 0 although this depends on the leftmost characters of the string.

So, flotval and (float) apparently only work if the string is something like: 55.35aAbBcCdDeEfF... but will NOT work if it is like: aAbBcC55.35dDeEfF

is there a way to get the float no matter the position of text?

possible duplicate of [Extract floating point numbers from a string in PHP](http://stackoverflow.com/q/944400) — mario, Jun 21 '14 at 13:30
NO DUPPLICATE: The question there, the `string` begins with `Number`... in my question the `string` **does not have to start with a number**... — Universal Grasp, Jun 21 '14 at 13:33

score 44 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:41

44

If you dont want to use regular expressions use filter_var:

$str = "CASH55.35inMyPocket";
var_dump( (float) filter_var( $str, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_FLOAT, FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_FRACTION ) ); // float(55.35)

answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:41

Danijel

12,408
5
38
54

3

Thanks for the `(float)`... without it, the returned value is a string – Universal Grasp Jun 21 '14 at 13:50
Please can you explain the `"FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_FRACTION"` part?.... can't seem to understand why it is required other than having the `"FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_FLOAT"` alone.... thx – Universal Grasp Jun 21 '14 at 14:58
FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_FRACTION is what I was looking for. thank – Anonymous-E May 23 '21 at 07:50
@UniversalGrasp this flag allows to have numbers after the decimal. If no flag, it will remove the `.` and shows `5535` in this case – Vincent Decaux Jul 12 '21 at 14:36

PeeHaa · Answer 2 · 2014-07-16T21:12:03.730

5

What you have cannot be casted to a float, because it doesn't look like a float from PHP's perspective. It is possible to grab the value using regex though.

If you are not sure whether there will always be a decimal. And you are trying to get the number regardless of position in the text (as per your question). You could use:

^.*?([\d]+(?:\.[\d]+)?).*?$

Which gets the numeric values from the following strings:

CASH55.35inMyPocket
CASH55inMyPocket
55.35inMyPocket
55inMyPocket
inMyPocket55.35
inMyPocket55

Explanation: http://regex101.com/r/tM8eM0
Demo: http://rubular.com/r/Gw5HTzsejj
PHP demo: https://eval.in/165521

Basically it looks for numbers in the string. And optionally it also check for decimals after that.

edited Jul 16 '14 at 21:12

answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:32

PeeHaa

71,436
58
190
262

Is this probably the Fastest way on earth? – Universal Grasp Jun 21 '14 at 13:36
in Performance. Compared to the other answers, Yours seems shorter and just wondering if it is also Faster... thx – Universal Grasp Jun 21 '14 at 13:41
I don't know whether it is faster. Neither do I really care unless you are doing this thousands and thousands times throughout the request – PeeHaa Jun 21 '14 at 13:43

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 06 '17 at 10:06

4

I think a preg_replace could be helpfull here (untested):

$float = preg_replace('/[^0-9\.]/', "", "CASH55.35inMyPocket"); // only show the numbers and dots

You could extend the preg a little more to only get [number].[number], but in this case I think it will work.

edited Apr 06 '17 at 10:06

Muhammad Hassaan

7,296
6
30
50

answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:30

Matt

1,081
15
27

1

Not helpful in case if it is .CASH55.35inMyPocket => .55.35 – Biswadeep Sarkar Jan 07 '18 at 08:10
Note: if you change string to: "CASH.55.35inMyPocket", or ".CASH55.35inMyPocket" (see leading dot) and this solution fails. – Jeffz Jul 01 '20 at 14:30

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:28

2

You can try a little Function to extract that value for you before using either floatval or (float).

Something like:

function myFloats($str) {

  if(preg_match("#([0-9\.]+)#", $str, $match)) { // search for number that may contain '.'
    return floatval($match[0]);
  } else {
    return floatval($str); // take some last chances with floatval
  }
}

then test:

echo myFloats("CASH55.35inMyPocket");

answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:28

ErickBest

4,586
5
31
43

1

This would also match `3.3.3` or `...` – hek2mgl Jun 21 '14 at 13:41
1

The answer is perfect for: `CASH55.35inMyPocket` – ErickBest Jun 21 '14 at 13:43
@ErickBest Answer like this - and especially your defensive comment - could cost you your 'dream job', as recruiters do sample Stack. You'd be probably branded something like: unimaginative coder, cannot anticipate real life scenarios, writes rigid code etc. ;) – Jeffz Jul 01 '20 at 14:39

hek2mgl · Answer 5 · 2017-01-02T15:36:23.237

1

Use a regex:

preg_match('/([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)/', 'CASH55.35inMyPocket', $matches);
$number = (float) $matches[1]; // 55.35

edited Jan 02 '17 at 15:36

answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:27

hek2mgl

152,036
28
249
266

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 07 '18 at 08:31

Modifying @hek2mgl answer to get both float and integer numbers

preg_match('/([0-9]+\.?[0-9].)/', 'CASH55.35inMyPocket', $matches);
$number = (float) $matches[1]; // 55.35

preg_match('/([0-9]+\.?[0-9].)/', 'CASH55inMyPocket', $matches);
$number = (float) $matches[1]; // 55

preg_match('/([0-9]+\.?[0-9].)/', 'Total.CASH55.35inMyPocket', $matches);  //with a dot before number
$number = (float) $matches[1]; // 55.35

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:30

-1

function extract_numbers($string)
{
preg_match_all('/([\d]+)/', $string, $match);
return $match[0];
}

answered Jun 21 '14 at 13:30

Max

1
1

In Php, how to get float value from a mixed string?

7 Answers7

Linked

Related