converting a text to number

I have a cell array with cells that have the following format:

C={'-0.17'
'1.85*'
'0.22'
'0.43'
'2.23**'
'-0.18'
'-0.64'
'-0.44'
'-1.55'
'-2.10**'
'2.57**'
'1.27'
'0.18'
'-0.68'
'1.48'
'0.30'
'0.95'
'1.82*'
'-0.94'
'-0.21'
'2.48***'};

I want to convert to number but I am facing a problem which is that stars do exist in the cell array. Any hint about how to do the conversion?

Answer 1

[Andrei Bobrov]

str2double(strrep(C,'*',''))