String to BigDecimal - Java

In Java, we can convert a String value into a BigDecimal object using the BigDecimal class. The BigDecimal class provides various methods to perform mathematical operations with arbitrary precision.

Converting a String to BigDecimal

To convert a String value to a BigDecimal object, we can use the BigDecimal(String) constructor. This constructor takes a String argument representing the value to be converted and creates a BigDecimal object with the same value.

Here's an example:

String numberAsString = "123.45";
BigDecimal number = new BigDecimal(numberAsString);

System.out.println("Number as BigDecimal: " + number);

Output:

Number as BigDecimal: 123.45

Handling Number Format Exceptions

When converting a String to a BigDecimal, we need to be careful with the format of the input string. If the string has an invalid format, such as containing non-numeric characters, we will get a NumberFormatException.

To handle this exception, we can either catch it using a try-catch block or throw it using the throws keyword in the method signature.

Here's an example of handling NumberFormatException:

String invalidNumber = "12a.34";

try {
    BigDecimal number = new BigDecimal(invalidNumber);
    System.out.println("Number as BigDecimal: " + number);
} catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
    System.out.println("Invalid number format: " + invalidNumber);
}

Output:

Invalid number format: 12a.34

Conclusion

Converting a String value to a BigDecimal object is a common task in Java programming. By using the BigDecimal class, we can perform accurate mathematical operations with arbitrary precision. However, we need to be careful with the format of the input string to avoid NumberFormatExceptions.