diff --git a/llex.c b/llex.c
index 63404c3d..09891b61 100644
--- a/llex.c
+++ b/llex.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: llex.c,v 1.37 1999/07/22 19:29:42 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: llex.c,v 1.38 1999/08/16 20:52:00 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Lexical Analyzer
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -402,8 +402,7 @@ int luaX_lex (LexState *LS) {
             save_and_next(LS);
         }
         save('\0');
-        LS->seminfo.r = luaO_str2d(L->Mbuffer+L->Mbuffbase);
-        if (LS->seminfo.r < 0)
+        if (!luaO_str2d(L->Mbuffer+L->Mbuffbase, &LS->seminfo.r))
           luaX_error(LS, "invalid numeric format");
         return NUMBER;
 
diff --git a/lobject.h b/lobject.h
index 91bf0cac..2e69ebf5 100644
--- a/lobject.h
+++ b/lobject.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: lobject.h,v 1.28 1999/03/16 16:43:27 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: lobject.h,v 1.29 1999/08/16 20:52:00 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Type definitions for Lua objects
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ extern const TObject luaO_nilobject;
 int luaO_equalval (const TObject *t1, const TObject *t2);
 int luaO_redimension (int oldsize);
 void luaO_insertlist (GCnode *root, GCnode *node);
-double luaO_str2d (const char *s);
+int luaO_str2d (const char *s, real *result);
 
 #ifdef OLD_ANSI
 void luaO_memup (void *dest, void *src, int size);
diff --git a/lundump.c b/lundump.c
index 225eda28..9f6e3dc3 100644
--- a/lundump.c
+++ b/lundump.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: lundump.c,v 1.12 1999/07/08 12:43:23 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: lundump.c,v 1.13 1999/08/16 20:52:00 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** load bytecodes from files
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -50,12 +50,12 @@ static unsigned long LoadLong (ZIO* Z)
 /*
 * convert number from text
 */
-double luaU_str2d (const char* b, const char* where)
+real luaU_str2d (const char* b, const char* where)
 {
- int negative=(b[0]=='-');
- double x=luaO_str2d(b+negative);
- if (x<0) luaL_verror("cannot convert number '%s' in %s",b,where);
- return negative ? -x : x;
+ real x;
+ if (!luaO_str2d(b, &x))
+   luaL_verror("cannot convert number '%s' in %s",b,where);
+ return x;
 }
 
 static real LoadNumber (ZIO* Z, int native)
diff --git a/lvm.c b/lvm.c
index 62060d90..fe2dc851 100644
--- a/lvm.c
+++ b/lvm.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: lvm.c,v 1.59 1999/08/10 12:55:47 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: lvm.c,v 1.60 1999/08/16 20:52:00 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Lua virtual machine
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -53,21 +53,8 @@ int luaV_tonumber (TObject *obj) {  /* LUA_NUMBER */
   if (ttype(obj) != LUA_T_STRING)
     return 1;
   else {
-    real t;
-    char *e = svalue(obj);
-    int sig = 1;
-    while (isspace((unsigned char)*e)) e++;
-    if (*e == '-') {
-      e++;
-      sig = -1;
-    }
-    else if (*e == '+') e++;
-    /* no digit before or after decimal point? */
-    if (!isdigit((unsigned char)*e) && !isdigit((unsigned char)*(e+1)))
+    if (!luaO_str2d(svalue(obj), &nvalue(obj)))
       return 2;
-    t = (real)luaO_str2d(e);
-    if (t<0) return 2;
-    nvalue(obj) = t*sig;
     ttype(obj) = LUA_T_NUMBER;
     return 0;
   }