Converting strings into numeric values

In most cases, strings may be cast back to numeric values. Consider the following example:

[Int]"2"             # String to Int32 
[Decimal]"3.141"     # String to Decimal 
[UInt32]10           # Int32 to UInt32 
[SByte]-5            # Int32 to SByte 

For advanced conversions, the System.Convert class may be used. The Convert class includes static methods that can take a string and convert it into a number using a specified base.

A binary (base 2) value is converted as follows:

[Convert]::ToInt32('01000111110101', 2)  # Returns 4597 

A hexadecimal (base 16) value can be converted like so:

[Convert]::ToInt32('FF9241', 16)  # Returns 16749121 

The bases that Convert supports are 2 (binary), 8 (octal), 10 (denary), and 16 (hexadecimal).