Question

Many languages have functions for converting string to integer and vice versa. So what happens there? What algorithm is being executed during conversion?

I don’t ask in specific language because I think it should be similar in all of them.

Answer 1

To convert a string to an integer, take each character in turn and if it’s in the range ‘0’ through ‘9’, convert it to its decimal equivalent. Usually that’s simply subtracting the character value of ‘0’. Now multiply any previous results by 10 and add the new value. Repeat until there are no digits left. If there was a leading ‘-‘ minus sign, invert the result.

To convert an integer to a string, start by inverting the number if it is negative. Divide the integer by 10 and save the remainder. Convert the remainder to a character by adding the character value of ‘0’. Push this to the beginning of the string; now repeat with the value that you obtained from the division. Repeat until the divided value is zero. Put out a leading ‘-‘ minus sign if the number started out negative.

Here are concrete implementations in Python, which in my opinion is the language closest to pseudo-code.

def string_to_int(s):
    i = 0
    sign = 1
    if s[0] == '-':
        sign = -1
        s = s[1:]
    for c in s:
        if not ('0' <= c <= '9'):
            raise ValueError
        i = 10 * i + ord(c) - ord('0')
    return sign * i

def int_to_string(i):
    s = ''
    sign = ''
    if i < 0:
        sign = '-'
        i = -i
    while True:
        remainder = i % 10
        i = i / 10
        s = chr(ord('0') + remainder) + s
        if i == 0:
            break
    return sign + s