How to convert an NSString into an NSNumber

Question

How can I convert a NSString containing a number of any primitive data type (e.g. int, float, char, unsigned int

Answer 1

Objective-C

(Note: this method doesn't play nice with difference locales, but is slightly faster than a NSNumberFormatter)

NSNumber *num1 = @([@"42" intValue]);
NSNumber *num2 = @([@"42.42" floatValue]);

---

Swift

Simple but dirty way

// Swift 1.2
if let intValue = "42".toInt() {
    let number1 = NSNumber(integer:intValue)
}

// Swift 2.0
let number2 = Int("42')

// Swift 3.0
NSDecimalNumber(string: "42.42") 

// Using NSNumber
let number3 = NSNumber(float:("42.42" as NSString).floatValue)

The extension-way This is better, really, because it'll play nicely with locales and decimals.

extension String {

    var numberValue:NSNumber? {
        let formatter = NSNumberFormatter()
        formatter.numberStyle = .DecimalStyle
        return formatter.number(from: self)
    }
}

Now you can simply do:

let someFloat = "42.42".numberValue
let someInt = "42".numberValue