Floatify_String ->Float or Nil

Floatify_String.rb

def floatify_string?(val)
  # if its already a number type, return it
  return val if (val.class == Integer || val.class == Float)

  # pre-match zero so that we can initially weed out all no-numeric strings as unparseable
  return 0.0 if val == "0" || val == "0.0"
  return nil if val.to_f == 0.0 # "Hello".to_f => 0.0

  # only match float-like looking values: "1.0" => 1.0, "1" => 1.0, "0.001" => 0.001, "01345345" => 1345345.0
  return val.to_f if val =~ /^[-+]?[0-9]*\.?[0-9]+$/
end