---
name: "getNumber"
type: command
status: ok
groups: ["Config"]
arma3_since: "0.50"
locality: {"argument": null, "effect": null, "server_exec": false}
source: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/getNumber
revid: 322306
updated: 2022-05-30T13:22:38Z
---

# getNumber

*Command · Config · Arma 3 v0.50 · introduced in Armed Assault v1.00*

## Description

Extract number from config entry.

## Syntax

```sqf
getNumber config
```

**Parameters:**

- `config`: [Config](../topics/Config.md)

**Returns:** [Number](../topics/Number.md)

## Examples

### Example 1

```sqf
_value = getNumber (configFile >> "CfgVehicles" >> "Thing" >> "maxSpeed");
```

## See also

[configFile](../commands/configFile.md) · [a / b](../commands/a_~2F_b.md) · [configName](../commands/configName.md) · [count](../commands/count.md) · [getArray](../commands/getArray.md) · [getText](../commands/getText.md) · [inheritsFrom](../commands/inheritsFrom.md) · [isArray](../commands/isArray.md) · [isClass](../commands/isClass.md) · [isNumber](../commands/isNumber.md) · [isText](../commands/isText.md) · [select](../commands/select.md)

## Community notes

**Donnervogel** — 2007-03-03

Use [getNumber](../commands/getNumber.md) to get [boolean](../topics/Boolean.md) values from a config entry. 1 equals [true](../commands/true.md), 0 equals [false](../commands/false.md).

---

**Loki** — 2011-09-13

With an not existing entry, [getNumber](../commands/getNumber.md) returns 0.

---

**ffur2007slx2_5** — 2014-03-28

(Arma 3 1.14), It's recommended to use [BIS_fnc_getCfgData](../functions/BIS_fnc_getCfgData.md) or [BIS_fnc_returnConfigEntry](../functions/BIS_fnc_returnConfigEntry.md) to get variable cfg data rather than conditioning via [isNumber](../commands/isNumber.md), [isText](../commands/isText.md), [isArray](../commands/isArray.md), [getNumber](../commands/getNumber.md), [getText](../commands/getText.md) and [getArray](../commands/getArray.md) combination.

Traditional workaround:

```sqf
private _cfg = configFile >> "CfgVehicles" >> _SomeAddonClassName >> "DestructionEffects" >> "Smoke1" >> "type";
switch (true) do
{
    case (isNumber _cfg):    { getNumber _cfg };
    case (isText _cfg):        { getText _cfg };
    case (isArray _cfg):    { getArray _cfg };
    default                    { nil };
};
```

**Recommended workaround:**

```sqf
(configFile >> "CfgVehicles" >> _SomeAddonClassName >> "DestructionEffects" >> "Smoke1" >> "type") call BIS_fnc_getCfgData;
```

To return default value once entry was not found, we can use [BIS_fnc_returnConfigEntry](../functions/BIS_fnc_returnConfigEntry.md) instead of [BIS_fnc_getCfgData](../functions/BIS_fnc_getCfgData.md).

```sqf
[(configFile >> "CannonFire" >> "LightExp"),"lifeTime",0] call BIS_fnc_returnConfigEntry; // 0.5
```

To compose collected [Number](../topics/Number.md) into [Array](../topics/Array.md), use [BIS_fnc_getCfgDataArray](../functions/BIS_fnc_getCfgDataArray.md) instead.

```sqf
(configFile >> "CfgVehicles" >> _SomeAddonClassName >> "DestructionEffects" >> "Smoke1" >> "type") call BIS_fnc_getCfgDataArray;
```

To retype collected [Number](../topics/Number.md) into [Boolean](../topics/Boolean.md), use [BIS_fnc_getCfgDataBool](../functions/BIS_fnc_getCfgDataBool.md). Anything bigger than 0 is true, otherwise false.

```sqf
(configFile >> "CfgVehicles" >> _SomeAddonClassName >> "DestructionEffects" >> "Smoke1" >> "type") call BIS_fnc_getCfgDataBool;
```

<sub>Source: [BI Community Wiki — getNumber](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/getNumber) (revision 322306).</sub>