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pythonstringpython-3.xfloating-point
PedroA
PedroA

Reputation: 1925

Python convert string to float error with negative numbers

How to convert a negative number stored as string to a float?

Am getting this error on Python 3.6 and don't know how to get over it.

>>> s = '–1123.04'
>>> float(s)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ValueError: could not convert string to float: '–1123.04'

Upvotes: 8

Views: 15765

Answers (2)

user2589273
user2589273

Reputation: 2467

For a more generic solution, you can use regular expressions (regex) to replace all non-ascii characters with a hyphen. 

import re

s = '–1123.04'

s = re.sub(r'[^\x00-\x7F]+','-', s)

s = float(s)

Upvotes: 2

BrenBarn
BrenBarn

Reputation: 251365

Your string contains a unicode en-dash, not an ASCII hyphen. You could replace it:

>>> float('–1123.04'.replace('\U00002013', '-'))
-1123.04

Upvotes: 27

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