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Decimal, Float, and Value functions

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Applies to: Canvas apps Dataverse formula columns Desktop flows Model-driven apps Power Pages Power Platform CLI

Converts a string of text or other types to a number.

Description

Note

Power Apps only supports the Value function and it returns a Float value. Support for the Decimal and Float functions will be added soon.

Use the Decimal, Float, and Value functions to convert a string of text that contains number characters to a numeric value. Use these function when you need to perform calculations on numbers that were entered as text by a user. These functions can also be used to convert other types to a number, such as date/time and Boolean.

The Value function will return the default numeric data type for the Power Fx host you are using, which is usually Decimal and the best choice for most situations. Use the Decimal and Float functions when you need a specific data type for a particular scenario, such as a scientific calculation with a very large number. For more details on working with these data types, see the Numbers section of Data types.

Different languages interpret , and . differently. By default, the text is interpreted in the language of the current user. You can specify the language to use with a language tag, using the same language tags that are returned by the Language function.

Notes on the format of the string:

  • The string may be prefixed with the currency symbol for the current language. The currency symbol is ignored. Currency symbols for other languages aren't ignored.
  • The string may be include a percent sign (%) at the end, indicating that it's a percentage. The number will be divided by 100 before being returned. Percentages and currency symbols can't be mixed.
  • The string may be in scientific notation, with 12 x 103 expressed as "12e3".

If the number isn't in a proper format, these functions will return an error.

To convert date and time values, use the DateValue, TimeValue, or DateTimeValue functions.

Syntax

Decimal( String [, LanguageTag ] )
Float( String [, LanguageTag ] )
Value( String [, LanguageTag ] )

  • String - Required. String to convert to a numeric value.
  • LanguageTag - Optional. The language tag in which to parse the string. If not specified, the language of the current user is used.

Decimal( Untyped )
Float( Untyped )
Value( Untyped )

  • Untyped - Required. Untyped object that represents a number. Acceptable values are dependent on the untyped provider. For JSON, the untyped object is expected to be a JSON number, boolean, or text that can be converted to a number. Keep in mind that locale-related formats are important considerations when communicating with external systems.

Examples

The user running these formulas is located in the United States and has selected English as their language. The Language function is returning "en-US". The Power Fx host uses Decimal by default.

Value and Decimal

Since we are using a host that has Decimal as the default, Value and Decimal will return the same results.

Formula Description Result
Value( "123.456" )
Decimal( "123.456" )		 The default language of "en-US" will be used, which uses a period as the decimal separator. 123.456 (Decimal)
Value( "123.456", "es-ES" )
Decimal( "123.456", "es-ES" )		 "es-ES" is the language tag for Spanish in Spain. In Spain, a period is a thousands separator. 123456 (Decimal)
Value( "123,456" )
Decimal( "123,456" )		 The default language of "en-US" will be used, which uses a comma as a thousands separator. 123456 (Decimal)
Value( "123,456", "es-ES" )
Decimal( "123,456", "es-ES" )		 "es-ES" is the language tag for Spanish in Spain. In Spain, a comma is the decimal separator. 123.456 (Decimal)
Value( "12.34%" )
Decimal( "12.34%" )		 The percentage sign at the end of the string indicates that this is a percentage. 0.1234 (Decimal)
Value( "$ 12.34" )
Decimal( "$ 12.34" )		 The currency symbol for the current language is ignored. 12.34 (Decimal)
Value( "24e3" )
Decimal( "24e3" )		 Scientific notation for 24 x 103. 24000 (Decimal)
Value( true )
Decimal( true )		 Converts a Boolean to a number, 0 for false and 1 for true 1 Decimal

Float

The Float function will have very close to the same results as above. Since 123.456 cannot be precisely represented in Float, the result is an approximation that is very close (123.456000000000003069544618484E2) and compounding rounding errors calculations could result in an unexpected result. The resulting type will be Float instead.

Where things diverge is if larger or smaller numbers are used.

Formula Description Result
Float( 1e100 ) Because the literal number 1e100 is beyond the range of a Decimal, this results in an error before ever calling the Float function. error (overflow)
Decimal( 1e100 ) Same problem as with the Float function. error (overflow)
Float( "1e100" ) The number in the text string is within the range of Float numbers. 1e100 Float
Decimal( "1e100" ) The number in the text string is beyond the range of Decimal numbers. error (overflow)
Float( "10000000000.0000000001" ) The number in the text string is within the range of Float numbers. However, the number requires more precision than a Float can provide and will be truncated. 1 (Float)
Decimal( "10000000000.0000000001" ) The number in the text string is within both the range and precision of a Decimal numbers. 10000000000.0000000001 (Decimal)