Can someone explain in detail what is going on here? Specifically the double dot notation.
(3.14).toFixed(); // "3"
3.14.toFixed(); // "3"
(3).toFixed(); // "3"
3.toFixed(); // SyntaxError: Unexpected token ILLEGAL
3..toFixed(); // "3"
source
According to ECMA Script 5.1 Specifications, grammar for decimal literals are defined like this
DecimalLiteral ::
DecimalIntegerLiteral . [DecimalDigits] [ExponentPart]
. DecimalDigits [ExponentPart]
DecimalIntegerLiteral [ExponentPart]
Note: The square brackets are just to indicate that the parts are optional.
So, when you say
3.toFixed()
After consuming 3., the parser thinks that the current token is a part of a Decimal Literal, but it can only be followed by DecimalDigits or ExponentPart. But it finds t, which is not valid, that is why it fails with SyntaxError.
when you do
3..toFixed()
After consuming 3., it sees . which is called property accessor operator. So, it omits the optional DecimalDigits and ExponentPart and constructs a Floating point object and proceeds to invoke toFixed() method.
One way to overcome this is to leave a space after the number, like this
3 .toFixed()
3. is a number, so the . is the decimal point and doesn't start a property.
3..something is a number followed by a property.
Related
I'm working on a project where I need to deal with javacsript frameworks for work. We have a parser that reads through them, but errors on lines with .. such as
1..toPrecision()
or
24..map(function(t){return 7..map(function(a){return e[a][t]})
It doesn't seem to understand the "..", and I don't either. Why is this valid javascript? How does mapping on a single number work? Eventually someone will fix the parser, but I'm looking for a temporary fix as to how I can edit the minified .js file to work. Is there another way to write something like 24..map()?
It's kind of a funny situation. Numbers can have a value after the decimal point, right?
console.log(1.2345); // for example
Well, it's also possible to write a number with a decimal point without any numbers following it.
console.log(5.);
So the first dot is the decimal point. The second is the property accessor.
console.log(5. .toString());
// ^ decimal point ^ property accessor
The specification defines decimal literals as:
DecimalIntegerLiteral . DecimalDigits opt ExponentPart opt
where opt means optional.
The first . is the decimal separator character. 1. is a number.
The second . is the object property accessor. someNumber.toPrecision is a function.
Another way to write it would be to write the number with more significant figures:
1.0.toPrecision()
How come this works:
var num = 1;
console.log(num.toString()); // "1"
But this does not?
console.log(1.toString()); // SyntaxError: Unexpected token ILLEGAL
Because the grammar expects a . after a number to be parsed as part of that number, as it would be for e.g. 1.5. You need to disambiguate the . if you want to use it as a member operator on a numeric literal:
1..toString(); // "1"
1.0.toString(); // "1"
(1).toString(); // "1"
In the first two cases the first . is parsed as a floating point. The second can only be parsed as a member operator because numeric literals can only contain a single floating point.
This is shown by the NumericLiteral grammar in the spec.
i need a regular expression for decimal/float numbers like 12 12.2 1236.32 123.333 and +12.00 or -12.00 or ...123.123... for using in javascript and jQuery.
Thank you.
Optionally match a + or - at the beginning, followed by one or more decimal digits, optional followed by a decimal point and one or more decimal digits util the end of the string:
/^[+-]?\d+(\.\d+)?$/
RegexPal
The right expression should be as followed:
[+-]?([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+
this apply for:
+1
+1.
+.1
+0.1
1
1.
.1
0.1
Here is Python example:
import re
#print if found
print(bool(re.search(r'[+-]?([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+', '1.0')))
#print result
print(re.search(r'[+-]?([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+', '1.0').group(0))
Output:
True
1.0
If you are using mac, you can test on command line:
python -c "import re; print(bool(re.search(r'[+-]?([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+', '1.0')))"
python -c "import re; print(re.search(r'[+-]?([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+', '1.0').group(0))"
You can check for text validation and also only one decimal point validation using isNaN
var val = $('#textbox').val();
var floatValues = /[+-]?([0-9]*[.])?[0-9]+/;
if (val.match(floatValues) && !isNaN(val)) {
// your function
}
This is an old post but it was the top search result for "regular expression for floating point" or something like that and doesn't quite answer _my_ question. Since I worked it out I will share my result so the next person who comes across this thread doesn't have to work it out for themselves.
All of the answers thus far accept a leading 0 on numbers with two (or more) digits on the left of the decimal point (e.g. 0123 instead of just 123) This isn't really valid and in some contexts is used to indicate the number is in octal (base-8) rather than the regular decimal (base-10) format.
Also these expressions accept a decimal with no leading zero (.14 instead of 0.14) or without a trailing fractional part (3. instead of 3.0). That is valid in some programing contexts (including JavaScript) but I want to disallow them (because for my purposes those are more likely to be an error than intentional).
Ignoring "scientific notation" like 1.234E7, here is an expression that meets my criteria:
/^((-)?(0|([1-9][0-9]*))(\.[0-9]+)?)$/
or if you really want to accept a leading +, then:
/^((\+|-)?(0|([1-9][0-9]*))(\.[0-9]+)?)$/
I believe that regular expression will perform a strict test for the typical integer or decimal-style floating point number.
When matched:
$1 contains the full number that matched
$2 contains the (possibly empty) leading sign (+/-)
$3 contains the value to the left of the decimal point
$5 contains the value to the right of the decimal point, including the leading .
By "strict" I mean that the number must be the only thing in the string you are testing.
If you want to extract just the float value out of a string that contains other content use this expression:
/((\b|\+|-)(0|([1-9][0-9]*))(\.[0-9]+)?)\b/
Which will find -3.14 in "negative pi is approximately -3.14." or in "(-3.14)" etc.
The numbered groups have the same meaning as above (except that $2 is now an empty string ("") when there is no leading sign, rather than null).
But be aware that it will also try to extract whatever numbers it can find. E.g., it will extract 127.0 from 127.0.0.1.
If you want something more sophisticated than that then I think you might want to look at lexical analysis instead of regular expressions. I'm guessing one could create a look-ahead-based expression that would recognize that "Pi is 3.14." contains a floating point number but Home is 127.0.0.1. does not, but it would be complex at best. If your pattern depends on the characters that come after it in non-trivial ways you're starting to venture outside of regular expressions' sweet-spot.
Paulpro and lbsweek answers led me to this:
re=/^[+-]?(?:\d*\.)?\d+$/;
>> /^[+-]?(?:\d*\.)?\d+$/
re.exec("1")
>> Array [ "1" ]
re.exec("1.5")
>> Array [ "1.5" ]
re.exec("-1")
>> Array [ "-1" ]
re.exec("-1.5")
>> Array [ "-1.5" ]
re.exec(".5")
>> Array [ ".5" ]
re.exec("")
>> null
re.exec("qsdq")
>> null
For anyone new:
I made a RegExp for the E scientific notation (without spaces).
const floatR = /^([+-]?(?:[0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?|\.[0-9]+)(?:[eE][+-]?[0-9]+)?)$/;
let str = "-2.3E23";
let m = floatR.exec(str);
parseFloat(m[1]); //=> -2.3e+23
If you prefer to use Unicode numbers, you could replace all [0-9] by \d in the RegExp.
And possibly add the Unicode flag u at the end of the RegExp.
For a better understanding of the pattern see https://regexper.com/.
And for making RegExp, I can suggest https://regex101.com/.
EDIT: found another site for viewing RegExp in color: https://jex.im/regulex/.
EDIT 2: although op asks for RegExp specifically you can check a string in JS directly:
const isNum = (num)=>!Number.isNaN(Number(num));
isNum("123.12345678E+3");//=> true
isNum("80F");//=> false
converting the string to a number (or NaN) with Number()
then checking if it is NOT NaN with !Number.isNaN()
If you want it to work with e, use this expression:
[+-]?[0-9]+([.][0-9]+)?([eE][+-]?[0-9]+)?
Here is a JavaScript example:
var re = /^[+-]?[0-9]+([.][0-9]+)?([eE][+-]?[0-9]+)?$/;
console.log(re.test('1'));
console.log(re.test('1.5'));
console.log(re.test('-1'));
console.log(re.test('-1.5'));
console.log(re.test('1E-100'));
console.log(re.test('1E+100'));
console.log(re.test('.5'));
console.log(re.test('foo'));
Here is my js method , handling 0s at the head of string
1- ^0[0-9]+\.?[0-9]*$ : will find numbers starting with 0 and followed by numbers bigger than zero before the decimal seperator , mainly ".". I put this to distinguish strings containing numbers , for example, "0.111" from "01.111".
2- ([1-9]{1}[0-9]\.?[0-9]) : if there is string starting with 0 then the part which is bigger than 0 will be taken into account. parentheses are used here because I wanted to capture only parts conforming to regex.
3- ([0-9]\.?[0-9]): to capture only the decimal part of the string.
In Javascript , st.match(regex), will return array in which first element contains conformed part. I used this method in the input element's onChange event , by this if the user enters something that violates the regex than violating part is not shown in element's value at all but if there is a part that conforms to regex , then it stays in the element's value.
const floatRegexCheck = (st) => {
const regx1 = new RegExp("^0[0-9]+\\.?[0-9]*$"); // for finding numbers starting with 0
let regx2 = new RegExp("([1-9]{1}[0-9]*\\.?[0-9]*)"); //if regx1 matches then this will remove 0s at the head.
if (!st.match(regx1)) {
regx2 = new RegExp("([0-9]*\\.?[0-9]*)"); //if number does not contain 0 at the head of string then standard decimal formatting takes place
}
st = st.match(regx2);
if (st?.length > 0) {
st = st[0];
}
return st;
}
Here is a more rigorous answer
^[+-]?0(?![0-9]).[0-9]*(?![.])$|^[+-]?[1-9]{1}[0-9]*.[0-9]*$|^[+-]?.[0-9]+$
The following values will match (+- sign are also work)
.11234
0.1143424
11.21
1.
The following values will not match
00.1
1.0.00
12.2350.0.0.0.0.
.
....
How it works
The (?! regex) means NOT operation
let's break down the regex by | operator which is same as logical OR operator
^[+-]?0(?![0-9]).[0-9]*(?![.])$
This regex is to check the value starts from 0
First Check + and - sign with 0 or 1 time ^[+-]
Then check if it has leading zero 0
If it has,then the value next to it must not be zero because we don't want to see 00.123 (?![0-9])
Then check the dot exactly one time and check the fraction part with unlimited times of digits .[0-9]*
Last, if it has a dot follow by fraction part, we discard it.(?![.])$
Now see the second part
^[+-]?[1-9]{1}[0-9]*.[0-9]*$
^[+-]? same as above
If it starts from non zero, match the first digit exactly one time and unlimited time follow by it [1-9]{1}[0-9]* e.g. 12.3 , 1.2, 105.6
Match the dot one time and unlimited digit follow it .[0-9]*$
Now see the third part
^[+-]?.{1}[0-9]+$
This will check the value starts from . e.g. .12, .34565
^[+-]? same as above
Match dot one time and one or more digits follow by it .[0-9]+$
Why the first line below gives error although the second and third lines work fine?
1.toString(); // SyntaxError
(1).toString(); // OK
1['toString'](); // OK
The . presents ambiguity. Is it a decimal, or a property accessor?
The interpreter sees it as a decimal, so you can use .. to allow both the decimal, then the property syntax.
1..toString();
Or use one of the other ways you show to resolve the ambiguity.
The parser is trying to treat 1. as the start of a floating-point literal -- only toString turns it into an invalid number.
Compare with:
1.0.toString()
In (1).toString(), (1) forces it to evaluate before .toString() so it works.
In 1.toString(), 1 is not a valid identifier so it does not work.
In Javascript, using the dot (.) can be interpreted in one of two ways:
As a Property Accessor (e.g., var prop = myObject.prop;).
As part of a Floating-point Literal (e.g. var num = 1.5;).
In the above case, the leading 1. in 1.toString() is interpreted as a floating point number, hence the error:
SyntaxError: identifier starts immediately after numeric literal (learn more)
This is the same error you get if you try and declare a variable that starts with a number: var 1person = 'john';
To prevent the interpreter from seeing the 1. as a decimal and instead see it as accessing a property on our literal 1, there are several ways to accomplish this:
// Via white-space after the numeric literal
1 .toString();
1
.toString();
// Via a grouping-operator, aka, parentheses
// #see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Expressions_and_Operators#Grouping_operator
(1).toString();
// Via an additional dot. Made clearer with parentheses as `(1.).toString()`
1..toString();
// Via an explicit fractional part (because `1. === 1.0`)
1.0.toString();
// Via bracket notation
1['toString']();
1.['toString']();
1.0['toString']();
A thought struck me as I was writing a piece of JavaScript code that processed some floating point values. What is the decimal point symbol in JavaScript? Is it always .? Or is it culture-specific? And what about .toFixed() and .parseFloat()? If I'm processing a user input, it's likely to include the local culture-specific decimal separator symbol.
Ultimately I'd like to write code that supports both decimal points in user input - culture-specific and ., but I can't write such a code if I don't know what JavaScript expects.
Added: OK, Rubens Farias suggests to look at similar question which has a neat accepted answer:
function whatDecimalSeparator() {
var n = 1.1;
n = n.toLocaleString().substring(1, 2);
return n;
}
That's nice, it lets me get the locale decimal point. A step towards the solution, no doubt.
Now, the remaining part would be to determine what the behavior of .parseFloat() is. Several answers point out that for floating point literals only . is valid. Does .parseFloat() act the same way? Or might it require the local decimal separator in some browser? Are there any different methods for parsing floating point numbers as well? Should I roll out my own just-to-be-sure?
According to the specification, a DecimalLiteral is defined as:
DecimalLiteral ::
DecimalIntegerLiteral . DecimalDigitsopt ExponentPartopt
. DecimalDigits ExponentPartopt
DecimalIntegerLiteral ExponentPartopt
and for satisfying the parseFloat argument:
Let inputString be ToString(string).
Let trimmedString be a substring of inputString consisting of the leftmost character that is not a StrWhiteSpaceChar and all characters to the right of that character.(In other words, remove leading white space.)
If neither trimmedString nor any prefix of trimmedString satisfies the syntax of a StrDecimalLiteral (see 9.3.1), return NaN.
Let numberString be the longest prefix of trimmedString, which might be trimmedString itself, that satisfies the syntax of a StrDecimalLiteral.
Return the Number value for the MV
So numberString becomes the longest prefix of trimmedString that satisfies the syntax of a StrDecimalLiteral, meaning the first parseable literal string number it finds in the input. Only the . can be used to specify a floating-point number. If you're accepting inputs from different locales, use a string replace:
function parseLocalNum(num) {
return +(num.replace(",", "."));
}
The function uses the unary operator instead of parseFloat because it seems to me that you want to be strict about the input. parseFloat("1ABC") would be 1, whereas using the unary operator +"1ABC" returns NaN. This makes it MUCH easier to validate the input. Using parseFloat is just guessing that the input is in the correct format.
use:
theNumber.toLocaleString();
to get a properly formatted string with the right decimal and thousands separators
As far as I'm aware, javascript itself only knows about the . separator for decimals. At least one person whose judgement I trust on JS things concurs:
http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/js-maths.htm#DTS