Converting string item in list to float

Question

I am trying to convert the last 'price' item in my list to an actual float and not a string in my output. Is this possible?

OUTPUT

{'name': 'ADA Hi-Lo Power Plinth Table', 'product_ID': '55984', 'price': '$2,849.00'}
{'name': 'Adjustable Headrest Couch - Chrome-Plated Steel Legs', 'product_ID': '31350', 'price': '$729.00'}
{'name': 'Adjustable Headrest Couch - Chrome-Plated Steel Legs (X-Large)', 'product_ID': '31351', 'price': '$769.00'}
{'name': 'Adjustable Headrest Couch - Hardwood Base (No Drawers)', 'product_ID': '65446', 'price': '$1,059.00'}      
{'name': 'Adjustable Headrest Couch - Hardwood Base 2 Drawers', 'product_ID': '65448', 'price': '$1,195.00'}
{'name': 'Adjustable Headrest Couch - Hardwood Tapered Legs', 'product_ID': '31355', 'price': '$735.00'}
{'name': 'Adjustable Headrest Couch - Hardwood Tapered Legs (X-Large)', 'product_ID': '31356', 'price': '$775.00'}
{'name': 'Angeles Rest Standard Cot Sheets - ABC Print', 'product_ID': 'A31125', 'price': '$11.19'}

START OF PYTHON SCRIPT

import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import sys

with open('recoveryCouches','r') as html_file:
    content= html_file.read()
    soup = BeautifulSoup(content,'lxml')
    allProductDivs = soup.find('div', class_='product-items product-items-4')
    nameDiv = soup.find_all('div',class_='name')
    prodID = soup.find_all('span', id='product_id')
    prodCost = soup.find_all('span', class_='regular-price')

    records=[]
     
    for i in range(len(nameDiv)):
        records.append({
            "name": nameDiv[i].find('a').text.strip(),
            "product_ID": prodID[i].text.strip(),
            "price": prodCost[i].text.strip()
            })

    for x in records:
        print(x)

Probable duplicate of stackoverflow.com/questions/37580151/… — Reinderien
– Reinderien, Commented Aug 4, 2021 at 1:54
@Forest1 can you tell me where I need to add that section of code? — ch11nV11n
– ch11nV11n, Commented Aug 4, 2021 at 2:12
@deyizzle haven't I told you! Have you really checked my answer carefully and pulled out that accepted answer. — imxitiz
– imxitiz, Commented Aug 4, 2021 at 2:13

imxitiz · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-04 01:33:43Z

1

You can try this, since you can't convert both $ and , to float. You can replace both of them, and convert.

You may use re module to replace them at once :

import re

for i in range(len(nameDiv)):
    records.append({
        "name": nameDiv[i].find('a').text.strip(),
        "product_ID": prodID[i].text.strip(),
        "price": float(re.sub(r"[$,]","",prodCost[i].text.strip()))
            })

Or if all of the string have $ at first the you can follow @Forest comment,

float(price[1:].replace(',', ''))

Like this:

float(prodCost[i].text.strip()[1:].replace(",",""))

answered Aug 4, 2021 at 1:33

imxitiz

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6 Comments

imxitiz Over a year ago

I believe you are trying to say float rather then integer cuz you can't convert 11.19 into integer. :)

Reinderien Over a year ago

Using string manipulation to pre-strip a currency symbol is not a great approach when locale exists.

ch11nV11n Over a year ago

@Xitiz I tried both float(prodCost[i].text.strip()[1:].replace(",","")) and "price": float(re.sub(r"[$,]","",prodCost[i].text.strip()))

imxitiz Over a year ago

Are you getting any error? If you had tried exactly that then, that should work for you, can you provide complete code so that I can check if you're doing right or wrong?

ch11nV11n Over a year ago

Not getting any errors, my output is just still showing the $ and , in that price field.

|

Reinderien · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-04 02:32:58Z

0

Naive removal of the currency symbol prefix makes your code non-i18n-compatible and fragile. The general solution is a little complicated, but if you assume that the currency symbol remains a prefix and that's a Canadian dollar symbol, then:

from locale import setlocale, LC_ALL, localeconv, atof
from decimal import Decimal
import re

setlocale(LC_ALL, ('en_CA', 'UTF-8'))

# ...

price_str = re.sub(r'\s', '', prodCost[i].text)
stripped = price_str.removeprefix(localeconv()['currency_symbol'])
price = atof(stripped, Decimal)

Also note that Decimal is a better representation of a currency than a float for most purposes.

edited Aug 4, 2021 at 2:32

answered Aug 4, 2021 at 2:07

Reinderien

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8 Comments

imxitiz Over a year ago

If we can do it in every easy way then, why should be do this? Have you downvoted my answer to answer this complicated things?

Reinderien Over a year ago

@Xitiz As in the answer: fragility. The easy way is correct until it isn't.

imxitiz Over a year ago

Are you sure, my answer is that bad to downvote? Just doing replace should work, but you are trying to over complicate the easy things.

Reinderien Over a year ago

@Xitiz Check out this interesting map and tell me what it means to you. To me, it means a million-dollar mistake if you do international business and accidentally mis-assign a hard-coded decimal separator, as you're at risk of doing in your answer.

jsbueno Over a year ago

locale would be nice for the decimal point ".", which is a comma instead, in certain locales. But currency symbols are seldom standardized in "real world" data - there are even competing standards - US Dollars could be prefixed with either "$", "USD", "US$" and so on. So what works is whatever will fit the specific data in the input set. Filtering for whitespace before and after the "$" sigin would be much less "fragile" than naively using the currency symbol given by the locale settings and expect that to work.

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