Converting a string to a number

[oaktrees]

I am reading in a string from a file which has the format $ 235.0 M. I need to convert this to a number and save the letter M somewhere else. Any pointers on how to strip off the $ and M?

Thank you.

[TrustyTony]

Hint:

data='$ 235.0 M'
print data.lstrip('$ ')
print data.rstrip(' M')

[SgtMe]

Here is an example. Remember that after reading from a text-file, (if you read the whole line) you may get newline characters ("\n"). Also, you need to remove the spaces.

n = '$ 235.0 M'            #Example string
n = n.strip('$M ')         #Cut off the chars - including spaces!
n = float(n)               #Must convert to int because of the '.0' ('235.0')
##################
print n * 2                #Just to test if it works

Enjoy

[SgtMe]

Sorry Tony, I got distracted after I started writing a reply and your post didn't show up until I had added mine!

[oaktrees]

Thanks guys.