Article
11/17/2011

Decimal.Parse Method (String)

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Converts the string representation of a number to its Decimal equivalent.

Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Shared Function Parse ( _
    s As String _
) As Decimal

public static decimal Parse(
    string s
)

Parameters

s
Type: System.String
The string representation of the number to convert.

Return Value

Type: System.Decimal
The Decimal number equivalent to the number contained in s.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
ArgumentNullException	s is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
FormatException	s is not in the correct format.
OverflowException	s represents a number less than MinValue or greater than MaxValue.

Remarks

Parameter s 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.

Parameter s 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 either the Decimal.Parse(String, NumberStyles) or the Decimal.Parse(String, NumberStyles, IFormatProvider) method.

Parameter s is parsed using the formatting information in a NumberFormatInfo initialized for the current system culture. For more information, see CurrentInfo. To parse a string using the formatting information of some other culture, use the Decimal.Parse(String, IFormatProvider) or Decimal.Parse(String, NumberStyles, IFormatProvider) method.

If necessary, the value of s is rounded using rounding to nearest.

A Decimal 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 during a parse operation a separator is encountered in the s parameter, 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.

Examples

The following code example uses the Parse(String) method to parse string representations of Decimal values.

Dim value As String
Dim number As Decimal

' Parse an integer with thousands separators. 
value = "16,523,421"
number = Decimal.Parse(value)
outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("'{0}' converted to {1}.", value, number) & vbCrLf
' Displays: 
'    16,523,421' converted to 16523421.

' Parse a floating point value with thousands separators
value = "25,162.1378"
number = Decimal.Parse(value)
outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("'{0}' converted to {1}.", value, number) & vbCrLf
' Displays:
'    25,162.1378' converted to 25162.1378.

' Parse a floating point number with US currency symbol.
value = "$16,321,421.75"
Try
   number = Decimal.Parse(value)
   outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("'{0}' converted to {1}.", value, number) & vbCrLf
Catch e As FormatException
   outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("Unable to parse '{0}'.", value) & vbCrLf
End Try
' Displays:
'    Unable to parse '$16,321,421.75'.  

' Parse a number in exponential notation
value = "1.62345e-02"
Try
   number = Decimal.Parse(value)
   outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("'{0}' converted to {1}.", value, number) & vbCrLf
Catch e As FormatException
   outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("Unable to parse '{0}'.", value) & vbCrLf
End Try
' Displays: 
'    Unable to parse '1.62345e-02'.

string value;
decimal number;
// Parse an integer with thousands separators. 
value = "16,523,421";
number = Decimal.Parse(value);
outputBlock.Text += String.Format("'{0}' converted to {1}.", value, number) + "\n";
// Displays: 
//    16,523,421' converted to 16523421.

// Parse a floating point value with thousands separators
value = "25,162.1378";
number = Decimal.Parse(value);
outputBlock.Text += String.Format("'{0}' converted to {1}.", value, number) + "\n";
// Displays: 
//    25,162.1378' converted to 25162.1378.

// Parse a floating point number with US currency symbol.
value = "$16,321,421.75";
try
{
   number = Decimal.Parse(value);
   outputBlock.Text += String.Format("'{0}' converted to {1}.", value, number) + "\n";
}
catch (FormatException)
{
   outputBlock.Text += String.Format("Unable to parse '{0}'.", value) + "\n";
}
// Displays:
//    Unable to parse '$16,321,421.75'.   

// Parse a number in exponential notation
value = "1.62345e-02";
try
{
   number = Decimal.Parse(value);
   outputBlock.Text += String.Format("'{0}' converted to {1}.", value, number) + "\n";
}
catch (FormatException)
{
   outputBlock.Text += String.Format("Unable to parse '{0}'.", value) + "\n";
}
// Displays: 
//    Unable to parse '1.62345e-02'.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

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