> Source: https://ashareapi.com/en/wiki/string-numbers/  ·  Markdown version for LLMs / AI agents

Reference

# String numbers
 On the quote, indicator and financial endpoints the numbers arrive as strings ("1723.50") rather than numbers. Doing arithmetic, comparisons or sorting on them directly goes wrong — check the type before converting.

## In one line

 **Most endpoints return numbers as strings** (`"1723.50"`); **only orderbook and snapshot return native numbers**.


## Which endpoints return strings

 Measured on 2026-10-07 by printing the type of every field, endpoint by endpoint:

 
 | 

| 
 | Endpoint 
 | Type of numeric fields 




 

| 
 | `quote` · `kline` · `minute` · `hot` · `technical` · `chip` · `profile` · `search` · `ipo` · `dividend` · `block-trade` · `margin-trade` 
 | **strings** 



| 
 | `fund` 
 | **strings** (`main_net`, `main_rank`, `close`, …) 



| 
 | `orderbook` · `snapshot` 
 | **native numbers** (`price`, `high`, `low`, … are float/int) 



| 
 | Text endpoints (`sector`, `lhb`, `screen`, …) 
 | values live in markdown, and after parsing `structured` / `tables` they are still **strings** 






 ⚠️ **Do not guess from the endpoint name** — the same field name can have a different type on different endpoints. `orderbook`’s `price` is a number, while `quote`’s `last` is a string.


## Why they are strings

 The upstream data arrives in text form (and some fields can be an empty string, or carry padding). **Keeping everything as a string avoids the messier alternative of mixed types** — some rows numeric, some `None` or `""`.


## How to convert safely

```
def num(v, default=None):
 """Convert a possibly-string / empty / None value to float safely."""
 if v is None:
 return default
 s = str(v).strip().replace(",", "")
 if not s:
 return default
 try:
 return float(s)
 except ValueError:
 return default

rows = resp["data"]
rows.sort(key=lambda r: num(r["amount"]) or 0, reverse=True)
```
 Three things matter: **strip() first** (there may be padding), **remove thousands separators**, and **handle the empty string** (otherwise `float("")` raises).


## Common misuses

 

- **Adding them directly** — `"10" + "20"` gives `"1020"` (string concatenation), not 30.


- **Comparing them directly** — strings compare lexicographically, so `"9" > "10"` is true while numerically 9 < 10. **Sorting comes out scrambled.**


- **Calling float() without a fallback** — an empty or non-numeric field raises `ValueError` and breaks the flow.


- **sort without converting** — sorting strings gives lexicographic order, not order by price or amount.


- **Guessing the type from the endpoint name** — `snapshot` is numeric while `quote` is a string, so a guess is always wrong somewhere.




 Last updated: 2026-10-07
 Measured endpoint by endpoint on 2026-10-07 (calling the data layer and printing the Python type of every field) — the numeric fields of quote / technical / chip / ipo / dividend / profile / fund are all strings, while orderbook / snapshot return native numbers.

 Read next

-
[K-line field reference](/en/wiki/kline-fields)

-
[Units reference](/en/wiki/units)

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