I know that we can extract an integer value from a string using

var x = "> 1";
x = parseInt(x.match(/\d+/)[0], 10));

How do I get a float value from a string

example: var x = "> 1.1"

I know we can just use x.substring(2);

But for a more generic solution? since the above will not give the accurate result for

var x = "1.1"

So what is the best way to extract the float value 1.1 from

var x = "> 1.1"

I know that we can extract an integer value from a string using

var x = "> 1";
x = parseInt(x.match(/\d+/)[0], 10));

How do I get a float value from a string

example: var x = "> 1.1"

I know we can just use x.substring(2);

But for a more generic solution? since the above will not give the accurate result for

var x = "1.1"

So what is the best way to extract the float value 1.1 from

var x = "> 1.1"

• javascript
• jquery
• regex

• 1 How about /\d+\.?\d*/ – Matt Burland Commented Feb 7, 2014 at 18:18

4 Answers 4

Use parseFloat and a regular expression that matches a number with optional decimals and minus sign.

var f = parseFloat(x.match(/-?(?:\d+(?:\.\d*)?|\.\d+)/)[0]);

You can try the following one to extract only numbers like floating or integer as an array as many as you want using the match function.

str = 'On schedule: 3243.8 miles away (4491 minutes)';
values = str.match(/[0-9.]+/g); //=> ["3243.8", "4491"]

x = parseFloat(x.match(/[-+]?([0-9]*\.[0-9]+|[0-9]+)/));

Use parseFloat(). It does exactly what you're looking for.