geissingert

public static T Val<T>(this object expression) where T : IConvertible
{
    T retVal = default(T);
 
    if (expression != null)
    {
        var regEx = new Regex(@"^([0-9]|-|\+|,|\$|\.){1,}");
        if (regEx.IsMatch(expression.ToString().Trim()))
        {
            var match = regEx.Match(expression.ToString().Trim()).Groups[0].Value.Replace("--", "-");
            var returnType = retVal.GetType();
            // intergers can not have decimal points in the 
            // removes the part of the string from the decimal point afterword
            if (returnType.Name.StartsWith("Int") && match.Contains("."))
            {
                match = match.Substring(0, match.IndexOf("."));
            }
            retVal = (T)Convert.ChangeType(match, returnType);
        }
    }
 
    return retVal;
}