# How convert String to Float64

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question, strings, parsing\
**Created:** [January 15, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493 "2017-01-15T12:12:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![programista](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/programista/32/5372_2.png) [@programista](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/programista)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493/1 "2017-01-15T12:12:17Z")

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How convert Chr to Float64

Version 0.4.5 (2016-03-18 00:58 UTC)  
Official [http://julialang.org/](http://julialang.org/) release  
x86\_64-w64-mingw32

julia\> HH\_baza[1,4]  
“4385.37”

julia\> eltype(HH\_baza[1,4])  
Char

julia\> convert(Float64,HH\_baza[1,4])  
ERROR: MethodError: `convert` has no method matching convert(::Type{Float64}, ::UTF8String)  
This may have arisen from a call to the constructor Float64(…),  
since type constructors fall back to convert methods.  
Closest candidates are:  
call{T}(::Type{T}, ::Any)  
convert(::Type{Float64}, ::Int8)  
convert(::Type{Float64}, ::Int16)  
…  
Paul

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dpsanders](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/dpsanders/32/3573_2.png) [@dpsanders](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dpsanders)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493/2 "2017-01-15T12:15:17Z")

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You answered yourself in your other thread: use parse.  
Note that this is not of type Char (bit Chr), but String.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Evizero](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/evizero/32/10118_2.png) [@Evizero](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Evizero)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493/3 "2017-01-15T12:16:22Z")

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```julia
julia> parse(Float64, "122.2")
122.2

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dpsanders](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/dpsanders/32/3573_2.png) [@dpsanders](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dpsanders)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 12:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493/4 "2017-01-15T12:19:10Z")

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In future, please provide a minimal example that other people can actually run.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ScottPJones](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/scottpjones/32/146_2.png) [@ScottPJones](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ScottPJones)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493/5 "2017-01-15T19:45:18Z")

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One problem is that you are using `eltype` instead of `typeof`.  
A `String` is viewed as a collection of type `Char`, which is why you get that result from `eltype(HH_baza[1,4])`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![programista](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/programista/32/5372_2.png) [@programista](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/programista)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 8:48am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493/6 "2017-01-16T08:48:10Z")

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> [@programista](#):
>
> julia\> eltype(HH\_baza[1,4])Char

julia\> eltype(HH\_baza[1,4])  
Char

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![greg\_plowman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/greg_plowman/32/8100_2.png) [@greg\_plowman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/greg_plowman)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 9:18am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-convert-string-to-float64/1493/7 "2017-01-16T09:18:22Z")

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Are you asking why `eltype` returns `Char`?  
Just to restate previous replies (this on v0.4.5):

```julia
julia> eltype("4385.37")
Char

julia> typeof("4385.37")
ASCIIString

julia> parse(Float64, "4385.37")
4385.37

```