Is there a native way to convert a string from any locale to a number?

Question

I know that I can convert a number to a string in a specified locale like so

(1.2).toLocaleString("de-DE") //-> "1,2"

What I don't know, or can't seem to find, is why there isn't a way to go in reverse. For example:

("1,2").fromLocaleString("de-DE").toFloat()

or

parseFloat("1,2", "de-DE")

The only solutions I have found to parse a number string from a different locale have been 3rd party plugins. If the browser can convert in one direction, is there a way for it to convert in the other direction?

Answer 1

It may be easier to define your own function. Something like this:

function parseFloatSeparator(str, sep) {
    sep = sep || ".";
    str = str.replace(new RegExp("[^0-9"+sep+"]","g"),"");
    if( sep != ".") str = str.replace(sep,".");
    return parseFloat(str);
}