Currency and percentage in numeric evaluation

[Richard Gaskin]

Robert Presender wrote:
 > On Apr 10, 2005, at 9:00 AM, Richard Gaskin wrote:
 >
 >> I need to evaluate a large number of short strings to
 >> determine whether they are numeric.  Some of these are
 >> percentages, and include the "%", and others are
 >> currency and can contain "$". the Euro, Yen, or any
 >> number of other signs.
 >>
 >> With dates we have a convenient test:  try to convert
 >> it, and if it fails it will tell you why.
 >>
 >> But we have no such convenience with percentages and
 >> currency.  So what is the most efficient (heck, I'd
 >> settle for reasonable efficient) way to determine if
 >> a string is numeric given the wide range of currency
 >> formats in common use?
 >
 > I put the following into the msg box
 >
 > put "12%" into holder
 > put holder is a number
 >
 > The above returns returns false

Precisely the problem:  in the context of my application (in which 
numeric comparisons are done with monetary and percentage values in 
addition to raw numbers) "12%" needs to be treated as a number.

In lieu of any consistently reliable way to determine if a string may be 
a monetary amount, I've opted for the user to be able to specify if a 
given field should be treated as such.  While I'd rather have that done 
automatically, it's more important that I remove all ambiguity in order 
to do a proper comparison.

Thanks for all the input in this.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  Developer of WebMerge: Publish any database on any Web site
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