pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · RhinoRuntimeError

Could not convert the given String :

Error message

Could not convert the given String : 

What it means

str2num parses its string argument with a default DecimalFormat and calls parse(...).doubleValue(). If parsing fails (non-numeric text, unexpected characters), the caught Exception is rethrown as this error with the exception message appended. The string could not be converted to a number under the current default locale's DecimalFormat rules.

Solutions

1. Clean the string before parsing: trim and strip currency symbols/units, then retry str2num.
2. Match separators to the JVM's default locale, or pre-normalize "1.234,56"-style strings manually.
3. Use the 2-argument form with an explicit DecimalFormat pattern matching the input format.
4. Check the server's -Duser.language/-Duser.country settings if parsing works locally but not on the server.
5. Decide a fallback for unparseable values (default 0 or NaN) with a isNaN check after a guarded call.

Example fix

// before
var n = str2num(amountText); // "€1.234,56 " under en locale fails

// after
var cleaned = trim(amountText).replace("€", "").replace("\.", "").replace(",", ".");
var n = str2num(cleaned);

function isParseableNumber(s) {
  if (typeof s !== 'string') return false;
  var t = s.replace(/^\s+/, '').replace(/[\s\u00a4]/g, '');
  return /^-?\d+([.,]\d+)?$/.test(t);
}
if (isParseableNumber(amountText)) { var n = str2num(amountText); }

function isNumericString(v) { return typeof v === 'string' && !isNaN(Number(v.replace(',', '.'))); }

When it happens

Trigger: str2num(s) where s contains non-numeric text, a thousands separator inconsistent with the default locale (e.g. "1,234.56" under a German locale), currency symbols, whitespace beyond leading spaces (Const.ltrim only trims the left), or empty/trailing garbage after a number when DecimalFormat is strict.

Common situations: CSV/Excel imports where numbers carry currency symbols or locale-mismatched separators; fields that should be numeric but contain "N/A" or "-"; Kettle server JVM default locale differing from the developer's machine so the same string parses locally but fails on the server; trailing spaces or units ("12 kg").

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• e.toString()
• The first Argument must be a Number.
• The function call str2num requires at least 1 argument.
• AnalyticQueryMeta.Exception.UnableToLoadStepInfoFromXML
• Caught a number format exception converting minimum length…

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c2cdd34d76f5b201. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/scriptvalues_mod/ScriptValuesAddedFunctions.java:1420

    double dRC = 0.00;
    switch ( ArgList.length ) {
      case 0:
        throw Context.reportRuntimeError( "The function call str2num requires at least 1 argument." );
      case 1:
        try {
          if ( isNull( ArgList[0] ) ) {
            return new Double( Double.NaN );
          } else if ( isUndefined( ArgList[0] ) ) {
            return Context.getUndefinedValue();
          }
          if ( ArgList[0].equals( null ) ) {
            return null;
          }
          String sArg1 = Context.toString( ArgList[0] );
          DecimalFormat formatter = new DecimalFormat();
          dRC = ( formatter.parse( Const.ltrim( sArg1 ) ) ).doubleValue();
        } catch ( Exception e ) {
          throw Context.reportRuntimeError( "Could not convert the given String : " + e.getMessage() );
        }
        break;
      case 2:
        try {
          if ( isNull( ArgList, new int[] { 0, 1 } ) ) {
            return new Double( Double.NaN );
          } else if ( isUndefined( ArgList, new int[] { 0, 1 } ) ) {
            return Context.getUndefinedValue();
          }
          String sArg1 = Context.toString( ArgList[0] );
          String sArg2 = Context.toString( ArgList[1] );
          if ( sArg1.equals( "null" ) || sArg2.equals( "null" ) ) {
            return null;
          }
          DecimalFormat formatter = new DecimalFormat( sArg2 );
          dRC = ( formatter.parse( sArg1 ) ).doubleValue();
          return new Double( dRC );
        } catch ( Exception e ) {

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