Parse String into Number

Question

I have a list which will store Number objects. The list will be populated by parsing a list of strings, where each string may represent any subclass of Number.

How d

Answer 1

Something like the following:

private static Number parse(String str) {
    Number number = null;
    try {
        number = Float.parseFloat(str);
    } catch(NumberFormatException e) {
        try {
            number = Double.parseDouble(str);
        } catch(NumberFormatException e1) {
            try {
                number = Integer.parseInt(str);
            } catch(NumberFormatException e2) {
                try {
                    number = Long.parseLong(str);
                } catch(NumberFormatException e3) {
                    throw e3;
                }       
            }       
        }       
    }
    return number;
}