# File lib/edi4r/edifact.rb, line 1562
    def parse( buf, already_escaped=false )
      return nil unless buf
      return @value = nil if buf.empty?
      @value = already_escaped ? buf : unescape(buf)
      if format[0] == ?n
        # Normalize decimal sign
        @value.sub!(/,/, '.')
        # Select appropriate Numeric, FIXME: Also match exponents!
        self.value = @value=~/\d+\.\d+/ ? @value.to_f : @value.to_i
      end
      @value
    end