How Can I Convert Strings with Dots and Commas as Thousands and Decimal Separators to Floats in Python?

Converting Strings with Dot and Comma to Floats in Python

Introduction

Often, data may be encountered in a format where numbers are represented with dots (.) as thousands separators and commas (,) as decimal points. To perform mathematical operations on such data, it must be converted to a floating-point format. This article discusses how to achieve this conversion in Python.

Using Localization Services

The Default Locale

Python's locale module provides an interface to access platform-specific localization settings. By default, Python assumes a "C" locale, where dots are not recognized as thousands separators. To make Python recognize dots as separators, set the locale to match the user's preferred settings:

import locale
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')

This call will tell Python to use the user's preferred locale settings, which will typically recognize dots as thousands separators. Now, locale.atof can be used to convert the string to a float:

locale.atof('123,456.789')

Using a Specific Locale

Instead of using the user's preferred settings, you can specify a specific locale to use. For example, to use the Danish locale where periods are used as thousands separators, and commas as decimal points, use:

locale.setlocale(locale.LC_NUMERIC, 'en_DK.UTF-8')

Caveats

Modifying the locale settings can have side effects and is not thread-safe. Avoid setting the locale within functions or libraries that may be used in threaded environments. Additionally, extension modules (C modules) should not call setlocale to avoid unexpected behavior.

Conclusion

By leveraging localization services, Python can convert strings with dot and comma into floats, allowing for seamless conversion of localized numeric data. However, it's important to consider the caveats mentioned above and use the localization services appropriately.

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