Paul Kelly's Blog, page 2

The Ultimate Guide to VBA String Functions

String operationsFunction(s)

Append two or more stringsFormat or "&"

Build a string from an arrayJoin

Compare - normalStrComp or "="

Compare - patternLike

Convert to a stringCStr, Str

Convert string to dateSimple: CDate

Advanced: Format

Convert string to numberSimple: CLng, CInt, CDbl, Val

Advanced: Format

Convert to unicode, wide, narrowStrConv

Convert to upper/lower caseStrConv, UCase, LCase

Extract part of a stringLeft, Right, Mid

Format a stringFormat

Find characters in a stringInStr, InStrRev

Generate a stringString

Get length of a stringLen

Remove blanksLTrim, RTrim, Trim

Replace part of a stringReplace

Reverse a stringStrReverse

Parse string to array Split

Introduction

Using strings is a very important part of VBA. There are many types of manipulation you may wish to do with strings. These include tasks such as

extracting part of a string
comparing strings
converting numbers to a string
formatting a date to include weekday
finding a character in a string
removing blanks
parsing to an array
and so on

The good news is that VBA contains plenty of functions to help you perform these tasks with ease.

This post provides an in-depth guide to using string in VBA. It explains strings in simple terms with clear code examples. I have laid it out so the post can be easily used as a quick reference guide.

If you are going to use strings a lot then I recommend you read the first section as it applies to a lot of the functions. Otherwise you can read in order or just go to the section you require.

© Ra2studio | Dreamstime.com

Read This First!

The following two points are very important when dealing with VBA string functions.

The Original String is not Changed

An important point to remember is that the VBA string functions do not change the original string. They return a new string with the changes the function made. If you want to change the original string you simply assign the result to the original string. See the section Extracting Part of a String for examples of this.

How To Use Compare

Some of the string functions such as StrComp() and Instr() etc. have an optional Compare parameter. This works as follows:

vbTextCompare: Upper and lower case are considered the same

vbBinaryCompare: Upper and lower case are considered different

The following code uses the string comparison function StrComp() to demonstrate the Compare parameter

Sub Comp1()

' Prints 0 : Strings match
Debug.Print StrComp("ABC", "abc", vbTextCompare)
' Prints -1 : Strings do not match
Debug.Print StrComp("ABC", "abc", vbBinaryCompare)

End Sub

You can use the Option Compare setting instead of having to use this parameter each time. Option Compare is set at the top of a Module. Any function that uses the Compare parameter will take this setting as the default. The two ways to use Option Compare are:

1. Option Compare Text: makes vbTextCompare the default Compare argument

Option Compare Text

Sub Comp2()
' Strings match - uses vbCompareText as Compare argument
Debug.Print StrComp("ABC", "abc")
Debug.Print StrComp("DEF", "def")
End Sub

2. Option Compare Binary: Makes vbBinaryCompare the default Compare argument

Option Compare Binary

Sub Comp2()
' Strings do not match - uses vbCompareBinary as Compare argument
Debug.Print StrComp("ABC", "abc")
Debug.Print StrComp("DEF", "def")
End Sub

If Option Compare is not used then the default is Option Compare Binary.

Now that you understand these two important points about string we can go ahead and look at the string functions individually.

Go back to menu

Appending Strings

ABC Cube Pile © Aleksandr Atkishkin | Dreamstime.com

You can append strings using the & operator. The following code shows some examples of using it

Sub Append()

Debug.Print "ABC" & "DEF"
Debug.Print "Jane" & " " & "Smith"
Debug.Print "Long " & 22
Debug.Print "Double " & 14.99
Debug.Print "Date " & #12/12/2015#

End Sub

You can see in the example that different types such as dates and number are automatically converted to strings. You may see the operator being used to append strings. The difference is that this operator will only work with string types. If you try to use it with other type you will get an error.

' This will give the error message: "Type Mismatch"
Debug.Print "Long " 22

If you want to do more complex appending of strings then you may wish to use the Format function described below.

Go back to menu

Extracting Part of a String

The functions discussed in this section are useful when dealing with basic extracting from a string. For anything more complicated you might want to check out my post on How to Easily Extract From Any String Without Using VBA InStr.

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

Leftstring, lengthReturn chars from left sideLeft("John Smith",4)

Rightstring, lengthReturn chars from right sideRight("John Smith",5)

Midstring, start, lengthReturn chars from middleMid("John Smith",3,2)

The Left, Right, and Mid functions are used to extract parts of a string. They are very simple functions to use. Left reads characters from the left, Right from the right and Mid from a starting point that you specify.

Sub UseLeftRightMid()

Dim sCustomer As String
sCustomer = "John Thomas Smith"

Debug.Print Left(sCustomer, 4) ' Prints: John
Debug.Print Right(sCustomer, 5) ' Prints: Smith

Debug.Print Left(sCustomer, 11) ' Prints: John Thomas
Debug.Print Right(sCustomer, 12) ' Prints: Thomas Smith

Debug.Print Mid(sCustomer, 1, 4) ' Prints: John
Debug.Print Mid(sCustomer, 6, 6) ' Prints: Thomas
Debug.Print Mid(sCustomer, 13, 5) ' Prints: Smith

End Sub

As mentioned in the previous section, VBA string functions do not change the original string. Instead, they return the result as a new string.

In the next example you can see that the string Fullname was not changed after using the Left function

Sub UsingLeftExample()

Dim Fullname As String
Fullname = "John Smith"

Debug.Print "Firstname is: "; Left(Fullname, 4)
' Original string has not changed
Debug.Print "Fullname is: "; Fullname

End Sub

If you want to change the original string you simply assign it to the return value of the function

Sub ChangingString()

Dim name As String
name = "John Smith"

' Assign return string to the name variable
name = Left(name, 4)

Debug.Print "Name is: "; name

End Sub

Go back to menu

Searching Within a String

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

InStrString1, String2Finds position of stringInStr("John Smith","h")

InStrRevStringCheck, StringMatchFinds position of string from endInStrRev("John Smith","h")

InStr and InStrRev are VBA functions used to search through strings for a substring. If the search string is found then the position(from the start of the check string) of the search string is returned. If the search string is not found then zero is returned. If either string is null then null is returned.

InStr Description of Parameters

InStr() Start[Optional], String1, String2, Compare[Optional]

Start As Long[Optional – Default is 1]: This is a number that specifies the starting search position from the left
String1 As String: The string to search
String2 As String: The string to search for
Compare As vbCompareMethod : See the section on Compare above for more details

InStr Use and Examples

InStr returns the first position in a string where a given substring is found. The following shows some examples of using it

Sub FindSubString()

Dim name As String
name = "John Smith"

' Returns 3 - position of first h
Debug.Print InStr(name, "h")
' Returns 10 - position of first h starting from position 4
Debug.Print InStr(4, name, "h")
' Returns 8
Debug.Print InStr(name, "it")
' Returns 6
Debug.Print InStr(name, "Smith")
' Returns 0 - string "SSS" not found
Debug.Print InStr(name, "SSS")

End Sub

InStrRev Description of Parameters

InStrRev() StringCheck, StringMatch, Start[Optional], Compare[Optional]

StringCheck As String: The string to search
StringMatch: The string to search for
Start As Long[Optional – Default is -1]: This is a number that specifies the starting search position from the right
Compare As vbCompareMethod: See the section on Compare above for more details

InStrRev Use and Examples

The InStrRev function is the same as InStr except that it searches from the end of the string. It’s important to note that the position returned is the position from the start. Therefore if there is only one instance of the search item then both InStr() and InStrRev() will return the same value.

The following code show some examples of using InStrRev

Sub UsingInstrRev()

Dim name As String
name = "John Smith"

' Both Return 1 - position of the only J
Debug.Print InStr(name, "J")
Debug.Print InStrRev(name, "J")

' Returns 10 - second h
Debug.Print InStrRev(name, "h")
' Returns 3 - first h as searches from position 9
Debug.Print InStrRev(name, "h", 9)

' Returns 1
Debug.Print InStrRev(name, "John")

End Sub

The InStr and InStrRev functions are useful when dealing with basic string searches. However, if you are going to use them for extracting text from a string they can make things complicated. I have written about a much better way to do this in my post How to Easily Extract From Any String Without Using VBA InStr.

Go back to menu

Removing Blanks

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

LTrimstringRemoves spaces from leftLTrim(" John ")

RTrimstringRemoves spaces from rightRTrim(" John ")

TrimstringRemoves Spaces from left and rightTrim(" John ")

The Trim functions are simple functions that remove spaces from either the start or end of a string.

Trim Functions Use and Examples

LTrim removes spaces from the left of a string
RTrim removes spaces from the right of a string
Trim removes spaces from the left and right of a string

Sub TrimStr()

Dim name As String
name = " John Smith "

' Prints "John Smith "
Debug.Print LTrim(name)
' Prints " John Smith"
Debug.Print RTrim(name)
' Prints "John Smith"
Debug.Print Trim(name)

End Sub

Go back to menu

Length of a String

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

LenstringReturns length of stringLen ("John Smith")

Len is a simple function when used with a string. It simply returns the number of characters the string contains. If used with a numeric type such as long it will return the number of bytes.

Sub GetLen()

Dim name As String
name = "John Smith"

' Prints 10
Debug.Print Len("John Smith")
' Prints 3
Debug.Print Len("ABC")

' Prints 4 as Long is 4 bytes in size
Dim total As Long
Debug.Print Len(total)

End Sub

Go back to menu

Reversing a String

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

StrReversestringReverses a stringStrReverse ("John Smith")

StrReverse is another easy-to-use function. It simply returns the given string with the characters reversed.

Sub RevStr()

Dim s As String
s = "Jane Smith"
' Prints: htimS enaJ
Debug.Print StrReverse(s)

End Sub

Go back to menu

Comparing Strings

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

StrCompstring1, string2Compares 2 stringsStrComp ("John", "John")

The function StrComp is used to compare two strings. The following subsections describe how it is used.

Description of Parameters

StrComp() String1, String2, Compare[Optional]

String1 As String: The first string to compare
String2 As String: The second string to compare
Compare As vbCompareMethod : See the section on Compare above for more details

StrComp Return Values

Return ValueDescription

0Strings match

-1string1 less than string2

1string1 greater than string2

Nullif either string is null

Use and Examples

The following are some examples of using the StrComp function

Sub UsingStrComp()

' Returns 0
Debug.Print StrComp("ABC", "ABC", vbTextCompare)
' Returns 1
Debug.Print StrComp("ABCD", "ABC", vbTextCompare)
' Returns -1
Debug.Print StrComp("ABC", "ABCD", vbTextCompare)
' Returns Null
Debug.Print StrComp(Null, "ABCD", vbTextCompare)

End Sub

Compare Strings using Operators

You can also use the equals sign to compare strings. The difference between the equals comparison and the StrComp function are:

The equals sign returns only true or false.
You cannot specify a Compare parameter using the equal sign – it uses the “Option Compare” setting.

The following shows some examples of using equals to compare strings

Option Compare Text

Sub CompareUsingEquals()

' Returns true
Debug.Print "ABC" = "ABC"
' Returns true because "Compare Text" is set above
Debug.Print "ABC" = "abc"
' Returns false
Debug.Print "ABCD" = "ABC"
' Returns false
Debug.Print "ABC" = "ABCD"
' Returns null
Debug.Print Null = "ABCD"

End Sub

The Operator “<>” means “does not equal”. It is essentially the opposite of using the equals sign as the following code shows

Option Compare Text

Sub CompareWithNotEqual()

' Returns false
Debug.Print "ABC" <> "ABC"
' Returns true because "Compare Text" is set above
Debug.Print "ABC" <> "abc"
' Returns true
Debug.Print "ABCD" <> "ABC"
' Returns true
Debug.Print "ABC" <> "ABCD"
' Returns null
Debug.Print Null <> "ABCD"

End Sub

Go back to menu

Comparing Strings using Pattern Matching

OperatorParamsDescriptionExample

Likestring, string patternchecks if string has the given pattern"abX" Like "??X"

"54abc5" Like "*abc#"

TokenMeaning

?Any single char

#Any single digit(0-9)

*zero or more characters

[charlist]Any char in the list

[!charlist]Any char not in the char list

Pattern matching is used to determine if a string has a particular pattern of characters. For example, you may want to check that a customer number has 3 digits followed by 3 alphabetic characters or a string has the letters XX followed by any number of characters.

If the string matches the pattern then the return value is true, otherwise it is false.

Pattern matching is similar to the VBA Format function in that there are almost infinite ways to use it. In this section I am going to give some examples that will explain how it works. This should cover the most common uses. If you need more information about pattern matching you can refer to the MSDN Page for the Like operator.

Lets have a look at a basic example using the tokens. Take the following pattern string

[abc][!def]?#X*

Let’s look at how this string works

[abc] a character that is either a,b or c

[!def] a character that is not d,e or f

? any character

# any digit

X the character X

* followed by zero or more characters

Therefore the following string is valid

apY6X

a is one of abc

p is not one of the characters d, e or f

Y is any character

6 is a digit

X is the letter X

The following code examples show the results of various strings with this pattern

Sub Patterns()

' True
Debug.Print 1; "apY6X" Like "[abc][!def]?#X*"
' True - any combination of chars after x is valid
Debug.Print 2; "apY6Xsf34FAD" Like "[abc][!def]?#X*"
' False - char d not in [abc]
Debug.Print 3; "dpY6X" Like "[abc][!def]?#X*"
' False - 2nd char e is in [def]
Debug.Print 4; "aeY6X" Like "[abc][!def]?#X*"
' False - A at position 4 is not a digit
Debug.Print 5; "apYAX" Like "[abc][!def]?#X*"
' False - char at position 5 must be X
Debug.Print 1; "apY6Z" Like "[abc][!def]?#X*"

End Sub

Real-World Example of Pattern Matching

To see a real-world example of using pattern matching check out .

Important Note on VBA Pattern Matching

The Like operator uses either Binary or Text comparison based on the Option Compare setting. Please see the section on Compare above for more details.

Go back to menu

Replace Part of a String

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

Replacestring, find, replace,
start, count, compareReplaces a substring with a substringReplace ("Jon","n","hn")

Replace is used to replace a substring in a string by another substring. It replaces all instances of the substring that are found by default.

Replace Description of Parameters

Replace() Expression, Find, Replace, Start[Optional], Count[Optional], Compare[Optional]

Expression As String: The string to replace chars in
Find As String: The substring to replace in the Expression string
Replace As String: The string to replace the Find substring with
Start As Long[Optional – Default is 1]: The start position in the string
Count As Long[Optional – Default is -1]: The number of substitutions to make. The default -1 means all.
Compare As vbCompareMethod : See the section on Compare above for more details

Use and Examples

The following code shows some examples of using the Replace function

Sub ReplaceExamples()

' Replaces all the question marks with(?) with semi colons(;)
Debug.Print Replace("A?B?C?D?E", "?", ";")
' Replace Smith with Jones
Debug.Print Replace("Peter Smith,Ann Smith", "Smith", "Jones")
' Replace AX with AB
Debug.Print Replace("ACD AXC BAX", "AX", "AB")

End Sub

Output

A;B;C;D;E

Peter Jones,Sophia Jones

ACD ABC BAB

In the following examples we use the Count optional parameter. Count determines the number of substitutions to make. So for example, setting Count equal to one means that only the first occurrence will be replaced.

Sub ReplaceCount()

' Replaces first question mark only
Debug.Print Replace("A?B?C?D?E", "?", ";", Count:=1)
' Replaces first three question marks
Debug.Print Replace("A?B?C?D?E", "?", ";", Count:=3)

End Sub

Output

A;B?C?D?E

A;B;C;D?E

The Start optional parameter allow you to return part of a string. The position you specify using Start is where it starts returning the string from. It will not return any part of the string before this position whether a replace was made or not.

Sub ReplacePartial()

' Use original string from position 4
Debug.Print Replace("A?B?C?D?E", "?", ";", Start:=4)
' Use original string from position 8
Debug.Print Replace("AA?B?C?D?E", "?", ";", Start:=8)
' No item replaced but still only returns last 2 characters
Debug.Print Replace("ABCD", "X", "Y", Start:=3)

End Sub

Output

;C;D;E

;E

CD

Sometimes you may only want to replace only upper or lower case letters. You can use the Compare parameter to do this. This is used in a lot of string functions. For more information on this check out the Compare section above.

Sub ReplaceCase()

' Replace capital A's only
Debug.Print Replace("AaAa", "A", "X", Compare:=vbBinaryCompare)
' Replace All A's
Debug.Print Replace("AaAa", "A", "X", Compare:=vbTextCompare)

End Sub

Output

XaXa

XXXX

Multiple Replaces

If you want to replace multiple values in a string you can nest the calls. In the following code we want to replace X and Y with A and B respectively.

Sub ReplaceMulti()

Dim newString As String

' Replace A with X
newString = Replace("ABCD ABDN", "A", "X")
' Now replace B with Y in new string
newString = Replace(newString, "B", "Y")

Debug.Print newString

End Sub

In the next example we will change the above code to perform the same task. We will use the return value of the first replace as the argument for the second replace.

Sub ReplaceMultiNested()

Dim newString As String

' Replace A with X and B with Y
newString = Replace(Replace("ABCD ABDN", "A", "X"), "B", "Y")

Debug.Print newString

End Sub

The result of both of these Subs is

XYCD XYDN

Go back to menu

Convert Types to String(Basic)

This section is about converting numbers to a string. A very important point here is that most the time VBA will automatically convert to a string for you. Let’s look at some examples

Sub AutoConverts()

Dim s As String
' Automatically converts number to string
s = 12.99
Debug.Print s

' Automatically converts multiple numbers to string
s = "ABC" & 6 & 12.99
Debug.Print s

' Automatically converts double variable to string
Dim d As Double, l As Long
d = 19.99
l = 55
s = "Values are " & d & " " & l
Debug.Print s

End Sub

When you run the above code you can see that the number were automatically converted to strings. So when you assign a value to a string VBA will look after the conversion for you most of the time. There are conversion functions in VBA and in the following sub sections we will look at the reasons for using them.

Explicit Conversion

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

CStrexpressionConverts a number variable to a stringCStr ("45.78")

StrnumberConverts a number variable to a stringStr ("45.78")

In certain cases you may want to convert an item to a string without have to place it in a string variable first. In this case you can use the Str or CStr functions. Both take an expression as a function and this can be any type such as long, double, data or boolean.

Let’s look at a simple example. Imagine you are reading a list of values from different types of cells to a collection. You can use the Str/CStr functions to ensure they are all stored as strings. The following code shows an example of this

Sub UseStr()

Dim coll As New Collection
Dim c As Range

' Read cell values to collection
For Each c In Range("A1:A10")
' Use Str to convert cell value to a string
coll.Add Str(c)
Next

' Print out the collection values and type
Dim i As Variant
For Each i In coll
Debug.Print i, TypeName(i)
Next

End Sub

In the above example we use Str to convert the value of the cell to a string. The alternative to this would be to assign the value to a string and then assigning the string to the collection. So you can see that using Str here is much more efficient.

Multi Region

The difference between the Str and CStr functions is that CStr converts based on the region. If your macros will be used in multiple regions then you will need to use CStr for you string conversions.

It is good practise to use CStr when reading values from cells. If your code ends up being used in another region then you will not have to make any changes to make it work correctly.

Go back to menu

Convert String to Number- CLng, CDbl, Val etc.

FunctionReturnsExample

CBoolBooleanCBool("True"), CBool("0")

CCurCurrencyCCur("245.567")

CDateDateCDate("1/1/2017")

CDblDoubleCCur("245.567")

CDecDecimalCDec("245.567")

CIntIntegerCInt("45")

CLngLong IntegerCLng("45.78")

CVarVariantCVar("")

The above functions are used to convert strings to various types. If you are assigning to a variable of this type then VBA will do the conversion automatically.

Sub StrToNumeric()

Dim l As Long, d As Double, c As Currency
Dim s As String
s = "45.923239"

l = s
d = s
c = s

Debug.Print "Long is "; l
Debug.Print "Double is "; d
Debug.Print "Currency is "; c

End Sub

Using the conversion types gives more flexibility. It means you can determine the type at runtime. In the following code we set the type based on the sType argument passed to the PrintValue function. As this type can be read from an external source such as a cell, we can set the type at runtime. If we declare a variable as Long then it will always be long when the code runs.

Sub Test()
' Prints 46
PrintValue "45.56", "Long"
' Print 45.56
PrintValue "45.56", ""
End Sub

Sub PrintValue(ByVal s As String, ByVal sType As String)

Dim value

' Set the data type based on a type string
If sType = "Long" Then
value = CLng(s)
Else
value = CDbl(s)
End If
Debug.Print "Type is "; TypeName(value); value

End Sub

If a string is not a valid number(i.e. contains symbols other numeric) then you get a “Type Mismatch” error.

Sub InvalidNumber()

Dim l As Long

' Will give type mismatch error
l = CLng("45A")

End Sub

The Val Function

The value function convert numeric parts of a string to the correct number type.

The Val function converts the first numbers it meets. Once it meets letters in a string it stops. If there are only letters then it returns zero as the value. The following code shows some examples of using Val

Sub UseVal()

' Prints 45
Debug.Print Val("45 New Street")

' Prints 45
Debug.Print Val(" 45 New Street")

' Prints 0
Debug.Print Val("New Street 45")

' Prints 12
Debug.Print Val("12 f 34")

End Sub

The Val function has two disadvantages

1. Not Multi-Region – Val does not recognise international versions of numbers such as using commas instead of decimals. Therefore you should use the above conversion functions when you application will be used in multiple regions.

2. Converts invalid strings to zero – This may be okay in some instances but in most cases it is better if an invalid string raises an error. The application is then aware there is a problem and can act accordingly. The conversion functions such as CLng will raise an error if the string contains non-numeric characters.

Go back to menu

Generate a String of items – String Function

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

Stringnumber, characterConverts a number variable to a stringString (5,"*")

The String function is used to generate a string of repeated characters. The first argument is the number of times to repeat it, the second argument is the character.

Sub GenString()

' Prints: AAAAA
Debug.Print String(5, "A")
' Prints: >>>>>
Debug.Print String(5, 62)
' Prints: (((ABC)))
Debug.Print String(3, "(") & "ABC" & String(3, ")")

End Sub

Go back to menu

Convert Case/Unicode – StrConv, UCase, LCase

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

StrConvstring, conversion, LCIDConverts a StringStrConv("abc",vbUpperCase)

If you want to convert the case of a string to upper or lower you can use the UCase and LCase functions for upper and lower respectively. You can also use the StrConv function with the vbUpperCase or vbLowerCase argument. The following code shows example of using these three functions

Sub ConvCase()

Dim s As String
s = "Mary had a little lamb"

' Upper
Debug.Print UCase(s)
Debug.Print StrConv(s, vbUpperCase)

' Lower
Debug.Print LCase(s)
Debug.Print StrConv(s, vbLowerCase)

' Sets the first letter of each word to upper case
Debug.Print StrConv(s, vbProperCase)

End Sub

Output

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB

mary had a little lamb

mary had a little lamb

Mary Had A Little Lamb

Other Conversions

As well as case the StrConv can perform other conversions based on the Conversion parameter. The following table shows a list of the different parameter values and what they do. For more information on StrConv check out the MSDN Page.

ConstantValueConverts

vbUpperCase1to upper case

vbLowerCase2to lower case

vbProperCase3first letter of each word to uppercase

vbWide*4from Narrow to Wide

vbNarrow*8from Wide to Narrow

vbKatakana**16from Hiragana to Katakana

vbHiragana32from Katakana to Hiragana

vbUnicode64to unicode

vbFromUnicode128from unicode

Go back to menu

Using Strings With Arrays

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

Splitexpression, delimiter,
limit, compareParses a delimited string to an arrayarr = Split("A;B;C",";")

Joinsource array, delimiterConverts a one dimensional array to a strings = Join(Arr, ";")

String to Array using Split

You can easily parse a delimited string into an array. You simply use the Split function with the delimiter as parameter. The following code shows an example of using the Split function.

Sub StrToArr()

Dim arr() As String
' Parse string to array
arr = Split("John,Jane,Paul,Sophie", ",")

Dim name As Variant
For Each name In arr
Debug.Print name
Next

End Sub

Output

John

Jane

Paul

Sophie

If you would like to see some real world examples of using Split, you will find them in the post How to Easily Extract From Any String Without Using VBA InStr.

Array to String using Join

If you want to build a string from an array you can do so easily using the Join function. This is essentially a reverse of the Split function. The following code provides an example of using Join

Sub ArrToStr()

Dim Arr(0 To 3) As String
Arr(0) = "John"
Arr(1) = "Jane"
Arr(2) = "Paul"
Arr(3) = "Sophie"

' Build string from array
Dim sNames As String
sNames = Join(Arr, ",")

Debug.Print sNames

End Sub

Output

John,Jane,Paul,Sophie

Go back to menu

Formatting a String

FunctionParamsDescriptionExample

Formatexpression, format,
firstdayofweek, firstweekofyearFormats a string Format(0.5, "0.00%")

The Format function is used to format a string based on given instructions. It is mostly used to place a date or number in certain format. The examples below show the most common ways you would format a date.

Sub FormatDate()

Dim s As String
s = "31/12/2015 10:15:45"

' Prints: 31 12 15
Debug.Print Format(s, "DD MM YY")
' Prints: Thu 31 Dec 2015
Debug.Print Format(s, "DDD DD MMM YYYY")
' Prints: Thursday 31 December 2015
Debug.Print Format(s, "DDDD DD MMMM YYYY")
' Prints: 10:15
Debug.Print Format(s, "HH:MM")
' Prints: 10:15:45 AM
Debug.Print Format(s, "HH:MM:SS AM/PM")

End Sub

The following examples are some common ways of formatting numbers

Sub FormatNumbers()

' Prints: 50.00%
Debug.Print Format(0.5, "0.00%")
' Prints: 023.45
Debug.Print Format(23.45, "00#.00")
' Prints: 23,000
Debug.Print Format(23000, "##,000")
' Prints: 023,000
Debug.Print Format(23000, "0##,000")
' Prints: $23.99
Debug.Print Format(23.99, "$#0.00")

End Sub

The Format function is quite a large topic and could use up a full post on it’s own. If you want more information then the MSDN Format Page provides a lot of information.

Helpful Tip for Using Format

A quick way to figure out the formatting to use is by using the cell formatting on an Excel worksheet. For example add a number to a cell. Then right click and format the cell the way you require. When you are happy with the format select Custom from the category listbox on the left. When you select this you can see the format string in the type textbox(see image below). This is the string format you can use in VBA.

Format Cells Dialog

Go back to menu

Conclusion

In almost any type of programming, you will spend a great deal of time manipulating strings. This post covers the many different ways you use strings in VBA.

To get the most from use the table at the top to find the type of function you wish to use. Clicking on the left column of this function will bring you to that section.

If you are new to strings in VBA, then I suggest you check out the Read this First section before using any of the functions.

Please feel free to subscribe to my newsletter and get exclusive VBA content that you cannot find here on the blog, as well as free access to my eBook, How to Ace the 21 Most Common Questions in VBA which is full of examples you can use in your own code.

The post The Ultimate Guide to VBA String Functions appeared first on Excel Macro Mastery.

View more on Paul Kelly's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 13, 2015 10:33

The Ultimate Guide to the VBA String

Which string operation would you like to know more about? Click on the operation of your choice in the table below. This will bring you to that section where you will find in-depth information about the topic along with free code examples you can copy and use right now. Or if you prefer you can scroll down to see the table of contents.

String operationsFunction(s)

Append two or more stringsFormat or "&"

Build a string from an arrayJoin

Compare - normalStrComp or "="

Compare - patternLike

Convert to a stringCStr, Str

Convert string to dateSimple: CDate

Advanced: Format

Convert string to numberSimple: CLng, CInt, CDbl, Val

Advanced: Format

Convert to unicode, wide, narrowStrConv

Convert to upper/lower caseStrConv, UCase, LCase

Extract part of a stringLeft, Right, Mid

Format a stringFormat

Find characters in a stringInStr, InStrRev

Generate a stringString

Get length of a stringLen

Remove blanksLTrim, RTrim, Trim

Replace part of a stringReplace

Reverse a string

StrReverse

Parse string to array Split

Introduction