NUMBERVALUE Function (Gnumeric)

• Introduced: Introduced in Gnumeric 1.9.15 release notes.
• Supported in: Registered in Gnumeric 1.12.62; no retirement is established.
• Last functioning version: Selected calculations are verified in 1.12.57. The newest functioning release is unverified; source registration in 1.12.62 does not establish newer runtime results.
• Scope: Desktop Gnumeric with its String Functions plugin. English comma-separated formulas are shown.
• Checked: October 14, 2026. Tables use 1.12.57 ssconvert under C.UTF-8; 1.12.62 was source-inspected only.

NUMBERVALUE converts recognizable numeric text to a number. Its inspected implementations try a decimal parser with selected separators, then fall back to ordinary VALUE-style parsing. It is therefore not an unconditional locale-independent validator for arbitrary text. Versioned function help.

=NUMBERVALUE(text[,decimal_separator[,group_separator]])

Current 1.12.62 source syntax:

• text: Required input.
• decimal_separator: Optional; omitted means the current locale’s decimal separator. An explicit value must be one Unicode character.
• group_separator: Optional; omitted means the locale’s grouping separator. An explicit value must be one Unicode character and differ from the decimal separator.

Tested 1.12.57 syntax: =NUMBERVALUE(text,decimal_separator). Both arguments are required. A period decimal separator selects comma grouping, and a comma decimal separator selects period grouping.

Brackets indicate optional arguments; do not type them. Current worksheet implementation.

The native column records recalculated CSV field content. Quotes delimit readable text; "" means an empty field expected to be text from the callback. They do not certify the exported cell type. The independent column checks the stated character mapping, UTF-8 byte operation or decimal conversion.

For a period-grouped, comma-decimal amount, =NUMBERVALUE("1.234,5",",") produced 1234.5 in 1.12.57. Its counterpart =NUMBERVALUE("1,234.5",".") produced the same value. Keep the original text beside the parsed number, especially when punctuation may represent dates or identifiers rather than amounts.

The saved difference between those two representations is 0. This checks the intended numeric equivalence; applying a display format is a separate step. 12.5% becomes 0.125, while 1.25E2 becomes 125 in the selected cases. Removing a percent sign manually without dividing by 100 would change the value.

For current-source code that needs comma decimals and period grouping, supply both separators explicitly: =NUMBERVALUE("1.234,5",",","."). This three-argument form is source-documented for 1.12.62 and was rejected by the tested 1.12.57 registration; it is not a newer native result.

The one- and three-argument attempts returned #N/A in the older executable. Invalid separator strings, unrecognized text and literal empty text gave #VALUE! in the selected two-argument cases. Numeric F3 contains 125; F5 is genuinely blank. F5 produced an empty CSV field, consistent with the source’s empty-value return, but this export does not certify a worksheet display or output type.

All recorded parsing ran in the C.UTF-8 environment. The currency example is an observed parser case, not a guarantee for every currency or locale. Newer locale defaults can also make two explicitly or implicitly chosen separators equal and trigger the source guard. Use explicit distinct separators for the intended data and inspect failures rather than replacing them with zero.

The source snapshots and native results below were retained from October 14, 2026. The recovered guide was checked against those saved records on October 15; neither the application nor a newer release was executed again.

• Current worksheet callback
• Tested-version worksheet callback

The complete NUMBERVALUE callback and registration differ materially: required argument count, separator rules and locale defaults changed. The downstream number-parsing helpers were not fully audited for every accepted format. Both stale and uncached SUM controls recalculated correctly. Saved native XML retains the function identities. No GUI result display, other locale, native output-type certification or newer-release execution is claimed.

VALUE, SUBSTITUTE, LEN.