# Switch Nodes,, MQTT and Strings
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/switch-nodes-mqtt-and-strings/62666
**Category:** General
**Created:** [16 May 2022 02:23 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/switch-nodes-mqtt-and-strings/62666 "2022-05-16T02:23:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@craigcurtin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/craigcurtin)
#### Post date: [16 May 2022 02:23 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/switch-nodes-mqtt-and-strings/62666/1 "2022-05-16T02:23:26Z")
Guys,
I have an MQTT message coming in that contains temperature information - this is being sent across from Home Assistant to me.
It is showing in the debug window as a String of 4 characters (e.g. 23.4) and hence does not appear to get processed by my switch node which is looking to make decisions based on numbers - is it as easy as telling the switch node to treat it as a string (and will this produce the same results when doing comparisons such as \> or \< etc ?)
Craig
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### Author:  [@craigcurtin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/craigcurtin)
#### Post date: [16 May 2022 06:52 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/switch-nodes-mqtt-and-strings/62666/2 "2022-05-16T06:52:22Z")
changing the incoming MQTT node to treat it as an Object instead of an auto sensed string etc did the trick
Now the payload has a number in it not a string
Craig