Is Character.getNumericValue(char) a More Efficient Alternative to Integer.parseInt(String) for Parsing Digits from Strings?

Exploring Alternative Methods for Parsing Int Values from Characters in Strings

When working with strings, we often encounter situations where we need to extract numerical values from individual characters. While the widely used Integer.parseInt(String) method can be effective, it may not always be the most efficient or versatile approach. This article explores an alternative method that offers certain advantages.

Let's assume we have a string like "el5" and we want to extract the digit 5 from the character at index 2. Using Integer.parseInt(String), we can convert the character to a string first:

String element = "el5";
String s;
s = ""+element.charAt(2);
int x = Integer.parseInt(s);

While this method works, it involves an unnecessary conversion step. A more direct approach is to use Character.getNumericValue(char):

String element = "el5";
int x = Character.getNumericValue(element.charAt(2));
System.out.println("x=" + x);

This code produces the expected result:

x=5

The advantage of Character.getNumericValue(char) is that it handles character representations of numbers in a more comprehensive manner. For instance, in the following examples:

• "el٥" (Eastern Arabic)
• "el५" (Hindi/Sanskrit)

the digits 5 are not represented using the ASCII '5' character, but rather by their localized equivalents. Character.getNumericValue(char) correctly interprets these characters and returns the corresponding numerical value. This makes it a robust choice for parsing numerical characters from strings across different character sets and locales.

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