How Can I Efficiently Convert Decimal Numbers with Comma Separators to Floating-Point Format in Python?

Converting Decimal Numbers with Comma Separators to Floating Point Formats

When received from external sources, numeric values may be presented in unfamiliar formats. One such scenario is encountered when numbers use a comma as the decimal point and a dot as the thousand separator. This can pose challenges when attempting to aggregate or process these values. However, a straightforward solution exists using the str_replace() function, which proves to be an efficient approach compared to other conversion methods.

Utilizing str_replace() for Efficient Conversion

To convert these values to the more conventional floating point format, we can leverage str_replace(). This function allows us to replace specific characters within a string, making it suitable for our purpose. Specifically, we need to replace both the comma (",") with a period (".") and the dot (".") with an empty string ("").

Step-by-Step Conversion

Consider the following Python code:

string_number = '1.512.523,55'

# Replace commas with periods
number = str_replace(',', '.', string_number)

# Replace dots with empty strings
number = str_replace('.', '', number)

# Convert to float for demonstration purposes
float_number = float(number)

print(float_number)

Breaking Down the Code

• The str_replace() function is used twice. The first call converts commas to periods, while the second removes the thousand separator dots.
• floatval() is employed to demonstrate the resulting value as a legitimate float.

This method ensures a straightforward and computationally efficient conversion from the unconventional number format to the commonly used floating point format.

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