Identify if a string is a number

Question

If I have these strings:

1. \"abc\" = false

2. \"123\" = true

3. \"ab2\"

Answer 1

If you want to catch a broader spectrum of numbers, à la PHP's is_numeric, you can use the following:

// From PHP documentation for is_numeric
// (http://php.net/manual/en/function.is-numeric.php)

// Finds whether the given variable is numeric.

// Numeric strings consist of optional sign, any number of digits, optional decimal part and optional
// exponential part. Thus +0123.45e6 is a valid numeric value.

// Hexadecimal (e.g. 0xf4c3b00c), Binary (e.g. 0b10100111001), Octal (e.g. 0777) notation is allowed too but
// only without sign, decimal and exponential part.
static readonly Regex _isNumericRegex =
    new Regex(  "^(" +
                /*Hex*/ @"0x[0-9a-f]+"  + "|" +
                /*Bin*/ @"0b[01]+"      + "|" + 
                /*Oct*/ @"0[0-7]*"      + "|" +
                /*Dec*/ @"((?!0)|[-+]|(?=0+\.))(\d*\.)?\d+(e\d+)?" + 
                ")$" );
static bool IsNumeric( string value )
{
    return _isNumericRegex.IsMatch( value );
}

Unit Test:

static void IsNumericTest()
{
    string[] l_unitTests = new string[] { 
        "123",      /* TRUE */
        "abc",      /* FALSE */
        "12.3",     /* TRUE */
        "+12.3",    /* TRUE */
        "-12.3",    /* TRUE */
        "1.23e2",   /* TRUE */
        "-1e23",    /* TRUE */
        "1.2ef",    /* FALSE */
        "0x0",      /* TRUE */
        "0xfff",    /* TRUE */
        "0xf1f",    /* TRUE */
        "0xf1g",    /* FALSE */
        "0123",     /* TRUE */
        "0999",     /* FALSE (not octal) */
        "+0999",    /* TRUE (forced decimal) */
        "0b0101",   /* TRUE */
        "0b0102"    /* FALSE */
    };

    foreach ( string l_unitTest in l_unitTests )
        Console.WriteLine( l_unitTest + " => " + IsNumeric( l_unitTest ).ToString() );

    Console.ReadKey( true );
}

Keep in mind that just because a value is numeric doesn't mean it can be converted to a numeric type. For example, "999999999999999999999999999999.9999999999" is a perfeclty valid numeric value, but it won't fit into a .NET numeric type (not one defined in the standard library, that is).