Here you can find the source of toNumber(final Object obj)
public static Number toNumber(final Object obj)
//package com.java2s; /*/* w ww . j av a 2s .com*/ * Swift Parallel Scripting Language (http://swift-lang.org) * Code from Java CoG Kit Project (see notice below) with modifications. * * Copyright 2005-2014 University of Chicago * * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. * You may obtain a copy of the License at * * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 * * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and * limitations under the License. */ public class Main { public static Number toNumber(final Object obj) { try { if (obj instanceof String) { return Double.valueOf((String) obj); } else if (obj instanceof Number) { return (Number) obj; } else { throw new IllegalArgumentException("Could not convert value to number: " + obj); } } catch (Exception e) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("Could not convert value to number: " + obj, e); } } }