Efficient ISNUMERIC() replacements on SQL Server?

Question

So I just spent 5 hours troubleshooting a problem which turned out to be due not only to the old unreliable ISNUMERIC but it looks like my problem only appears

Answer 1

For SQL Server 2005 and above.... take advantage of try/catch...

declare @test varchar(10), @num decimal
select @test = '0123A'

begin try
    select @num = cast(@test as decimal)
    print '1'
end try 
begin catch
    print '0'
end catch

prints 0.

Change @test = '01234' or @test = '01234.5' and it prints 1.