Testing for number

Question

How do I test if a given parameter is a number, in order to apply a different style? And if not, just ignore... Like:

\domorestuffifnumber{things} -> things
\domorestuffifnumber{123}    -> \emph{123}

Thanks.

Answer 1

Here's a slightly flawed, but slightly more generic thing than you're asking for.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\newcommand\ifnumber[1]{%
        \begingroup
        \edef\temp{#1}%
        \expandafter\ifstrempty\expandafter{\temp}
                {\endgroup\@secondoftwo}
                {\expandafter\ifnumber@i\temp\@nnil}%
}
\def\ifnumber@i#1#2\@nnil{%
        \if-#1%
                \ifstrempty{#2}
                        {\def\temp{X}}
                        {\def\temp{#2}}%
        \else
                \def\temp{#1#2}%
        \fi
        \afterassignment\ifnumhelper
        \count@0\temp\relax\@nnil
        \endgroup
}

\def\numrelax{\relax}%
\def\ifnumhelper#1\@nnil{%
        \def\temp{#1}%
        \ifx\temp\numrelax
                \aftergroup\@firstoftwo
        \else
                \aftergroup\@secondoftwo
        \fi
}
\makeatother

\newcommand\testnumber[1]{#1: \ifnumber{#1}{Number}{Not a number}\par}
\begin{document}
\def\foo{-55}
\testnumber{1234}
\testnumber{\foo}
\testnumber{-}
\testnumber{}
\testnumber{1}
\testnumber{1234abc}
\testnumber{abc1234}
\end{document}

It's slightly complicated by checking if the first token in the expansion of the argument is a -. Unfortunately, it does not work if the argument is a register. (It probably doesn't work in other cases too.)

But from the \ifnumber macro, you should easily be about to build what you want.

\newcommand\domorestuffifnumber[1]{\ifnumber{#1}{\emph{#1}}{#1}}

Answer 2

\documentclass{article}
\def\isnum#1{%
  \if!\ifnum9<1#1!\else_\fi
    \emph{#1}\else#1\fi}

\begin{document}

\isnum{dummy}
\isnum{123}

\end{document}

Herbert

Answer 3

A LuaTeX solution:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

\directlua{ dofile("myluastuff.lua") }

\newcommand\domorestuffifnumber[1]{%
  \directlua{ 
    domorestuffifnumber("#1") 
}}

\def\foo{-55}
\domorestuffifnumber{1234}
\domorestuffifnumber{\foo}
\domorestuffifnumber{-}
\domorestuffifnumber{}
\domorestuffifnumber{1}
\domorestuffifnumber{1234abc}
\domorestuffifnumber{abc1234}
\end{document}

and the myluastuff.lua file:

function domorestuffifnumber( arg )
  if tonumber(arg) then 
    tex.sprint("\\emph{" .. arg .. "}") 
  else
    tex.sprint(arg or "")
 end
end

I think the solution is quite readable.

Answer 4

This is a somewhat late answer, but I am including it here for completeness. When TeX is expecting a number a trailing zero will be ignored if it is followed by another number. However, if the 0 is followed by a non-number it will stop the scanning and insert the letter in the stream. The macro that follows capitalizes on this fact. We set a counter this way within a box. If it is a number the input gets fully absorbed and the width of the box is zero. If it is not a number the box will contain the non-numbers and hence its width will be greater than zero. By testing for the width of the box we can know if the input was a number or not.

\documentclass{article}
\makeatletter
\def\add@zero#1{0#1}
\def\isNum#1{%
   \sbox\z@{\@tempcnta=0#1\relax}
   %\setbox0\hbox{\expandafter\@tempcnta\expandafter\add@zero\numtest\relax}
   \ifdim\wd0>\z@\relax\@latex@warning{Not a number!}\else is numeric\fi
}

\begin{document}
\isNum{13}

% Handles registers
\isNum{\the\@tempcnta}

%warning for not a number
\isNum{dummy}
\makeatother
\end{document}

Empty input is treated a zero, and this can be useful in many situations.

(Edit: simplified as per egreg's comments)