C# int.Parse: Convert Strings to Integers

Convert strings into ints with the int.Parse and int.TryParse methods.

Parse, int. Water turns to mist. Dirt becomes mud. A material (a meaning) stays the same—even as its form changes. A dark cloud appears in the sky.

A string, when parsed, can be represented as another type like int. Consider the string "100." It can be represented in just a 4 byte int—we use int.Parse and TryParse to start.Int, uint

Parse example. Here is the int.Parse method. This is the simplest one. Parse() throws exceptions on invalid input. This can be slow if errors are common.

Part 1: Here we have a string containing 3 digit characters—it is not a number, but a number encoded within a string.

Part 2: We pass the string to int.Parse (a static method). Parse() returns an integer upon success.

C# program that uses int.Parse using System; class Program { static void Main() { // Part 1: string containing number. string text = "500"; // Part 2: pass string to int.Parse. int num = int.Parse(text); Console.WriteLine(num); } } Output 500

Errors. The int.Parse method is strict. With an invalid string, it throws a FormatException. We can catch this using a try-catch construct.

But: Using the int.TryParse method is usually a better solution. TryParse is faster.

C# program that encounters FormatException using System; class Program { static void Main() { string input = "carrot"; // ... This will throw an exception. int carrots = int.Parse(input); Console.WriteLine(carrots); } } Output Unhandled Exception: System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format. at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, ... at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, ...

TryParse. A useful method for parsing integers is the int.TryParse method. The parsing logic in TryParse is the same. But the way we call it is different.

Info: TryParse uses somewhat more confusing syntax. It does not throw exceptions.

Out: We must describe the second parameter with the out modifier. TryParse also returns true or false based on its success.

Out True, False

Null: TryParse never throws an exception—even on invalid input and null. This method is ideal for input that is not always correct.

C# program that uses int.TryParse using System; class Program { static void Main() { // See if we can parse the string. string text1 = "x"; int num1; bool res = int.TryParse(text1, out num1); if (res == false) { // String is not a number. } // Use int.TryParse on a valid numeric string. string text2 = "10000"; int num2; if (int.TryParse(text2, out num2)) { // It was assigned. } // Display both results. Console.WriteLine(num1); Console.WriteLine(num2); } } Output 0 10000

TryParse with no if. Usually we call int.TryParse inside an if-statement. But this is not required. And sometimes, we can just treat a failed parse as the default value (0 for int).

Tip: This removes a branch in our code—we can just use the result, not test it. Branches are good for trees, but bad for performance.

C# program that uses int.TryParse, no if using System; class Program { static void Main() { string error = "Welcome"; // This will leave the result variable with a value of 0. int result; int.TryParse(error, out result); Console.WriteLine(result); } } Output 0

TryParse, new out syntax. We can place the "out int" keywords directly inside a method call. Older versions of C# do not allow this syntax. But this can reduce the line count of a program.

C# program that uses TryParse, new out syntax using System; class Program { static void Main() { const string value = "345"; // We can place the "out int" declaration in the method call. if (int.TryParse(value, out int result)) { Console.WriteLine(result + 1); } } } Output 346

Convert. Convert.ToInt32 (along with its siblings Convert.ToInt16 and Convert.ToInt64) is a static wrapper method for the int.Parse method.Static

Warning: ToInt32 can be slower than int.Parse if the surrounding code is equivalent.

Confusing: The syntax here may be more confusing. It uses the bit size of the int, which may not be relevant to the code's intent.

C# program that uses Convert.ToInt32 using System; class Program { static void Main() { // Convert "text" string to an integer with Convert.ToInt32. string text = "500"; int num = Convert.ToInt32(text); Console.WriteLine(num); } } Output 500

DateTime. Parsing is fun. It is one of my passions in life. We can parse a string into a DateTime type with TryParse. Parsing methods on DateTime use a similar syntax.DateTime.Parse

Note: The Parse and TryParse methods have separate implementations for each type. But they have a unified calling syntax.

C# program that calls TryParse on DateTime using System; class Program { static void Main() { string now = "1/22/2017"; // Use TryParse on the DateTime type to parse a date. DateTime parsed; if (DateTime.TryParse(now, out parsed)) { Console.WriteLine(parsed); } } } Output 1/22/2017 12:00:00 AM

Benchmark, invalid strings. When I first wrote about int.Parse, I recommended it as the best parsing option. After many years, I have changed my mind.

TryParse: I recommend using TryParse in most situations. It is faster on errors, and is a good default choice for parsing.

Version 1: This version of the code uses int.Parse to parse an invalid number string. It causes an exception on each iteration.

Version 2: Here we use int.TryParse to parse an invalid number string. No exception-handling is needed.

Result: Using int.TryParse on invalid input is many times faster—this can be noticeable in real programs.

C# program that benchmarks invalid string parsing using System; using System.Diagnostics; class Program { const int _max = 10000; static void Main() { // Version 1: parse an invalid string with exception handling. var s1 = Stopwatch.StartNew(); for (int i = 0; i < _max; i++) { int result; try { result = int.Parse("abc"); } catch { result = 0; } } s1.Stop(); // Version 2: parse an invalid string with TryParse. var s2 = Stopwatch.StartNew(); for (int i = 0; i < _max; i++) { int result; int.TryParse("abc", out result); } s2.Stop(); Console.WriteLine(((double)(s1.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds * 1000000) / _max).ToString("0.00 ns")); Console.WriteLine(((double)(s2.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds * 1000000) / _max).ToString("0.00 ns")); } } Output 24839.68 ns int.Parse 54.01 ns int.TryParse

Benchmark, IntParseFast. An optimized int.Parse method reduces computational complexity. It uses a for-loop on the characters in a string.

Info: This algorithm maintains the running total as its iterates. The char "1" is offset +48 from the integer 1 in ASCII.

Version 1: This version of the code uses the IntParseFast method to get characters from the string and convert them to an int.

Version 2: Here we just call int.Parse from the .NET Framework. This version supports more number formats.

Result: The custom method IntParseFast is much faster for parsing a simple 6-character integer.

C# program that times int parse methods using System; using System.Diagnostics; class Program { public static int IntParseFast(string value) { // An optimized int parse method. int result = 0; for (int i = 0; i < value.Length; i++) { result = 10 * result + (value[i] - 48); } return result; } const int _max = 1000000; static void Main() { // Test the methods. Console.WriteLine(IntParseFast("123456")); Console.WriteLine(int.Parse("123456")); var s1 = Stopwatch.StartNew(); // Version 1: use custom parsing algorithm. for (int i = 0; i < _max; i++) { int result = IntParseFast("123456"); } s1.Stop(); var s2 = Stopwatch.StartNew(); // Version 2: use int.Parse. for (int i = 0; i < _max; i++) { int result = int.Parse("123456"); } s2.Stop(); Console.WriteLine(((double)(s1.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds * 1000000) / _max).ToString("0.00 ns")); Console.WriteLine(((double)(s2.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds * 1000000) / _max).ToString("0.00 ns")); Console.Read(); } } Output 123456 123456 4.53 ns: IntParseFast 116.67 ns: int.Parse

Notes, algorithm. IntParseFast() converts a character like "1" to the integer 1. ASCII chars are stored in different positions than the equivalent numbers, but in the same order.

Info: The earlier a digit occurs, the more times it must be multiplied by 10 to correctly parse the number.

Next: As we read the string from the left to the right, the current digit is one tenth of the previous one.

Multiply: We can multiply the previous number by 10 to satisfy this condition. The 48 we use simply shifts ASCII digits to ints.

Notes, int. The word "int" in C# aliases the System.Int32 type. Code that uses "System.Int32.Parse" or "System.Int32.TryParse," it is equivalent to int.Parse and int.TryParse.

Notes, other types. Numbers can be smaller than an int (like a byte) or much larger (like a decimal). Each type has a useful Parse and TryParse method.bool.Parse decimal.Parse double.Parse long.Parse

A review. Years ago, programmers would write their own integer conversion routines. This was complicated. With Parse and TryParse, the .NET Framework helps solve the parsing problem.

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C# int.Parse: Convert Strings to Integers

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