Decimal.Parse Method (String, IFormatProvider)
[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]
Converts the string representation of a number to its Decimal equivalent using the specified culture-specific format information.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Parameters
- s
- Type: System.String
The string representation of the number to convert.
- provider
- Type: System.IFormatProvider
An IFormatProvider that supplies culture-specific parsing information about s.
Return Value
Type: System.DecimalThe Decimal number equivalent to the number contained in s as specified by provider.
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| ArgumentNullException | s is null. |
| FormatException | s is not of the correct format |
| OverflowException | s represents a number less than MinValue or greater than MaxValue |
This overload of the Parse(String, IFormatProvider) method is commonly used to convert text that can be formatted in a variety of ways to a Decimal value. For example, it can be used to convert the text entered by a user into an HTML text box to a numeric value.
The s parameter contains a number of the form:
[ws][sign][digits,]digits[.fractional-digits][ws]
Elements in square brackets ([ and ]) are optional. The following table describes each element.
Element | Description |
|---|---|
ws | Optional white space. |
sign | An optional sign. |
digits | A sequence of digits ranging from 0 to 9. |
, | A culture-specific thousands separator symbol. |
. | A culture-specific decimal point symbol. |
fractional-digits | A sequence of digits ranging from 0 to 9. |
The s parameter is interpreted using the NumberStyles.Number style. This means that white space and thousands separators are allowed but currency symbols are not. To explicitly define the elements (such as currency symbols, thousands separators, and white space) that can be present in s, use the Decimal.Parse(String, NumberStyles, IFormatProvider) method.
The provider parameter is an IFormatProvider implementation, such as a NumberFormatInfo or CultureInfo object. The provider parameter supplies culture-specific information used in parsing. If provider is null, the thread current culture is used.
A Decimal object has 29 digits of precision. If s represents a number that has more than 29 digits, but has a fractional part and is within the range of MaxValue and MinValue, the number is rounded, not truncated, to 29 digits using rounding to nearest.
If a separator is encountered in the s parameter during a parse operation, and the applicable currency or number decimal and group separators are the same, the parse operation assumes that the separator is a decimal separator rather than a group separator. For more information about separators, see CurrencyDecimalSeparator, NumberDecimalSeparator, CurrencyGroupSeparator, and NumberGroupSeparator.
The following example illustrates the use of the Parse(String, IFormatProvider) method to parse a string. The method first tries to parse the string using the current culture. If the parse operation fails, it tries to parse the string using a neutral culture. If this parse operation fails, it tries to parse the string using the invariant culture. Note that in a real application, the Decimal.TryParse(String, NumberStyles, IFormatProvider, Decimal) method is best used for this purpose.
public static decimal GetDecimal(string value) { decimal number; CultureInfo culture = null; // Return if string is empty if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) throw new ArgumentNullException("The input string is invalid."); // Determine if value can be parsed using current culture. try { culture = CultureInfo.CurrentCulture; number = decimal.Parse(value, culture); return number; } catch {} // If Parse operation fails, see if there's a neutral culture. try { culture = culture.Parent; number = decimal.Parse(value, culture); return number; } catch {} // If there is no neutral culture or if parse operation fails, use // the invariant culture. culture = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture; try { number = decimal.Parse(value, culture); return number; } // All attempts to parse the string have failed; rethrow the exception. catch (FormatException e) { throw new FormatException(String.Format("Unable to parse '{0}'.", value), e); } }