my @array = ("  321abc  ", "100%", "20 lbs.");
no warnings "numeric";
print(0+$_,"\n") for @array;

##</code><code>##

my @array = ("  321abc  ", "100%", "20 lbs.", "words20", "**39.99.99**");
no warnings "numeric";
for (@array) {
	s/^[^0-9.-]+//;
	print(0+$_,"\n");	
}