Proper way to avoid parseInt throwing a NumberFormatException for input string: ""

Question

When I run parseInt:

Integer.parseInt(myString);

it throws:

NumberFormatException: For input string: ""

Does this mean I have do something like this?

if(StringUtils.isNotBlank(myString))
  return Integer.parseInt(myString);
else
 return 0;

Answer 1

Yes, but: Wrap it in a thin method (and eliminate the redundant else), or use an existing implementation, like Commons Lang's NumberUtils.toInt(str, defaultValue):

NumberUtils.toInt(myString, 0);

This method handles null values and conversion failures.

Writing the same thing on your own is straight-forward:

• Check for null, and/or...
• ...Wrap the NumberFormatExtension exception

Answer 2

Well, you could use the conditional operator instead:

return StringUtils.isNotBlank(myString) ? Integer.parseInt(myString) : 0;

If you need to do this in multiple places, you'd probably want to put this into a separate method. Note that you should also consider situations where myString is null, or contains non-numeric text.