When dealing with <code>input
elements, it is important to remember that the value is always a string, which may consist of digits.
If you need to determine if the string contains valid numbers, you will need to parse it and establish your criteria for what constitutes a valid number.
Various methods such as parseInt(myVar)
, +myVar
, isNaN(myVar)
, and Number(myVar)
are commonly suggested, but there are limitations:
parseInt
only parses the beginning of the string, so parseInt("345foo")
would result in 345
parseInt
is only suitable for whole numbers, while parseFloat
should be used for numbers with fractional parts
These methods do not recognize thousands separators
These methods do not handle decimal separators other than .
, which may vary in different regions
+myVar
, Number(myVar)
, and isNaN(myVar)
consider an empty string as 0
Therefore, it is necessary to preprocess the string based on the desired input conditions.
Once the format(s) are determined, there are several resources available for guidance on parsing, such as:
- How do I Convert a String into an Integer in JavaScript? (specific to integers)
- What's the fastest way to convert String to Number in JavaScript?