To check if a string can be converted to a float in Python, you can use the float()
function or isdigit()
function. Follow the article to better understand.
Check if a string can be converted to a float in Python
The float number is a data type in Python. Float in Python is a number represented as a floating point float number. You can understand that the python float or float number data type is numbers containing decimals after the dot.
Example:
10.1
9.00
The string is a common data type in Python. A word or a paragraph is also called a type. A string in Python begins with a single or double quote. Whichever sign it begins, it must end with that.
Example: “hello. my name is john” is a string.
To check if a string can be converted to a float in Python, I have the following ways:
Use float() function
The float()
function converts the specified value to a floating point number.
Syntax:
float([x])
The function can accept the following value types as arguments:
- Number: integer or decimal.
- String: Contains any number type. The program ignores the left or right space or a new value line. Mathematical operators can be used. It can be used with NaN, Infinity or inf.
The return value depends on the parameter passed:
- If the parameter passes as required, the function returns a floating number.
- No parameter passed returns 0.0
- The program will report an error if the input parameter is not a decimal number or the program does not meet the requirements.
- Parameters out of float range will report ‘exception OverflowError.’
Example:
- Initialize two strings
- Using
float()
. Check for float string - If it is a float, return True. Otherwise, return False.
str1 = "Learnshareit1" str2 = "18.18" def isConvertToFloat(strParam): try: float(strParam) return True except ValueError: return False print(f"{str1} can be converted to a float: ", isConvertToFloat(str1)) print(f"{str2} can be converted to a float: ", isConvertToFloat(str2))
Output:
Learnshareit1 can be converted to a float: False
18.18 can be converted to a float: True
Use the isdigit() function
I will refer you to the method isdigit()
function to check if a string is a float or not. I will combine the isdigit()
function with the replace()
function.
Syntax:
str.isdigit()
Parameters:
- No parameters.
Example:
- Initialize two strings.
- Using
isdigit()
function combined withreplace()
function to check for float string. - The replace() function will replace the ‘.’ appears in two strings (if any) the purpose is to check if the string contains a number or not.
- If a string has only digits, return True; otherwise, return False.
The isdigit()
function returns True if the string contains only digits and False otherwise.
str1 = 'Learnshareit1' str2 = '18881.13' # Using isdigit() function combined with replace() function to check for float string print(f"{str1} can be converted to a float: ", str1.replace('.', '', 1).isdigit()) print(f"{str2} can be converted to a float: ", str2.replace('.', '', 1).isdigit())
Output:
Learnshareit1 can be converted to a float: False
18881.13 can be converted to a float: True
Summary
Please leave a comment below if you don’t know how to check if a string can be converted to a float in Python. I will answer your questions. Thank you for reading!
Maybe you are interested:
- Convert NoneType to an Integer in Python
- Divide each element in a list by a number in Python
- Split an integer into digits in Python

My name is Jason Wilson, you can call me Jason. My major is information technology, and I am proficient in C++, Python, and Java. I hope my writings are useful to you while you study programming languages.
Name of the university: HHAU
Major: IT
Programming Languages: C++, Python, Java