title: Discord.js: Converting a user id (string) to user id (Snowflake)
body: <p>Not finding any leads on how to solve this problem.</p>
  
  <p>I am working on a Discord bot. Part of its functionality is storing some user records. Each user's data is indexed in a JSON file where their user id is used as the key. <a href="https://discord.js.org/#/docs/main/stable/class/User?scrollTo=id" rel="nofollow noreferrer">When I obtain this key, it is of the Snowflake data type</a>, but storing it in the JSON file converts it into a string.</p>
  
  <p>One part of program tries to fetch a user using the user's id, which I pulled from my JSON file, therefore it is a string.</p>
  
  <pre><code>let clientUser = client.users.fetch(userID);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, I can't do this, as fetch() <a href="https://discord.js.org/#/docs/main/stable/class/UserManager?scrollTo=fetch" rel="nofollow noreferrer">requires the user ID to be a "Snowflake" data type.</a></p>
  
  <p>How can I convert my user ID from string to the Snowflake data type it is asking for?</p>
  
  <p>Alternatively, is there a way to use fetch() or something comparable with a string data type instead?</p>