How to convert a binary string to an integer or a float?
No quick way to do it. Use something like this instead:
bin_to_num(Bin) ->
N = binary_to_list(Bin),
case string:to_float(N) of
{error,no_float} -> list_to_integer(N);
{F,_Rest} -> F
end.
This should convert the binary to a list (string), then try to fit it in a float. When that can't be done, we return an integer. Otherwise, we keep the float and return that.
This is the pattern that we use:
binary_to_number(B) ->
list_to_number(binary_to_list(B)).
list_to_number(L) ->
try list_to_float(L)
catch
error:badarg ->
list_to_integer(L)
end.