# parse(\<type\>,"Inf")

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parse-type-inf/55189>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [February 13, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parse-type-inf/55189 "2021-02-13T04:10:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mkarikom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkarikom/32/7096_2.png) [@mkarikom](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkarikom)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parse-type-inf/55189/1 "2021-02-13T04:10:36Z")

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I’m reading in some environment variables and sometimes I need to get `Inf`.

Obviously `Inf` is not an `Int`, but can I do something like:

```julia
arc_nu = parse(Int,ENV["ARCNU"]) # where ENV["ARCNU"] = "Inf"
@test isinf(arc_nu) == true

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![odow](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/odow/32/28685_2.png) [@odow](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/odow)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parse-type-inf/55189/2 "2021-02-13T04:14:46Z")

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`parse(Float64, "Inf")`

or

`x = ENV["ARCNU"]; x == "Inf" ? Inf : parse(Int, x)`

or

`x = ENV["ARCNU"]; x == "Inf" ? typemax(Int) : parse(Int, x)`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mkarikom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkarikom/32/7096_2.png) [@mkarikom](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkarikom)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 4:18am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parse-type-inf/55189/3 "2021-02-13T04:18:32Z")

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thanks, the ternary actually works much better for me here