Excel макрос длина строки

Работа с текстом в коде VBA Excel. Функции, оператор & и другие ключевые слова для работы с текстом. Примеры использования некоторых функций и ключевых слов.

Функции для работы с текстом

Основные функции для работы с текстом в VBA Excel:

Функция	Описание
Asc(строка)	Возвращает числовой код символа, соответствующий первому символу строки. Например: MsgBox Asc(«/Stop»). Ответ: 47, что соответствует символу «/».
Chr(код символа)	Возвращает строковый символ по указанному коду. Например: MsgBox Chr(47). Ответ: «/».
Format(Expression, [FormatExpression], [FirstDayOfWeek], [FirstWeekOfYear])	Преобразует число, дату, время в строку (тип данных Variant (String)), отформатированную в соответствии с инструкциями, включенными в выражение формата. Подробнее…
InStr([начало], строка1, строка2, [сравнение])	Возвращает порядковый номер символа, соответствующий первому вхождению одной строки (строка2) в другую (строка1) с начала строки. Подробнее…
InstrRev(строка1, строка2, [начало, [сравнение]])	Возвращает порядковый номер символа, соответствующий первому вхождению одной строки (строка2) в другую (строка1) с конца строки. Подробнее…
Join(SourceArray,[Delimiter])	Возвращает строку, созданную путем объединения нескольких подстрок из массива. Подробнее…
LCase(строка)	Преобразует буквенные символы строки в нижний регистр.
Left(строка, длина)	Возвращает левую часть строки с заданным количеством символов. Подробнее…
Len(строка)	Возвращает число символов, содержащихся в строке.
LTrim(строка)	Возвращает строку без начальных пробелов (слева). Подробнее…
Mid(строка, начало, [длина])	Возвращает часть строки с заданным количеством символов, начиная с указанного символа (по номеру). Подробнее…
Replace(expression, find, replace, [start], [count], [compare])	Возвращает строку, полученную в результате замены одной подстроки в исходном строковом выражении другой подстрокой указанное количество раз. Подробнее…
Right(строка, длина)	Возвращает правую часть строки с заданным количеством символов. Подробнее…
RTrim(строка)	Возвращает строку без конечных пробелов (справа). Подробнее…
Space(число)	Возвращает строку, состоящую из указанного числа пробелов. Подробнее…
Split(Expression,[Delimiter],[Limit],[Compare])	Возвращает одномерный массив подстрок, извлеченных из указанной строки с разделителями. Подробнее…
StrComp(строка1, строка2, [сравнение])	Возвращает числовое значение Variant (Integer), показывающее результат сравнения двух строк. Подробнее…
StrConv(string, conversion)	Изменяет регистр символов исходной строки в соответствии с заданным параметром «conversion». Подробнее…
String(число, символ)	Возвращает строку, состоящую из указанного числа символов. В выражении «символ» может быть указан кодом символа или строкой, первый символ которой будет использован в качестве параметра «символ». Подробнее…
StrReverse(строка)	Возвращает строку с обратным порядком следования знаков по сравнению с исходной строкой. Подробнее…
Trim(строка)	Возвращает строку без начальных (слева) и конечных (справа) пробелов. Подробнее…
UCase(строка)	Преобразует буквенные символы строки в верхний регистр.
Val(строка)	Возвращает символы, распознанные как цифры с начала строки и до первого нецифрового символа, в виде числового значения соответствующего типа. Подробнее…
WorksheetFunction.Trim(строка)	Функция рабочего листа, которая удаляет все лишние пробелы (начальные, конечные и внутренние), оставляя внутри строки одиночные пробелы.

В таблице перечислены основные функции VBA Excel для работы с текстом. С полным списком всевозможных функций вы можете ознакомиться на сайте разработчика.

Ключевые слова для работы с текстом

Ключевое слово	Описание
&	Оператор & объединяет два выражения (результат = выражение1 & выражение2). Если выражение не является строкой, оно преобразуется в Variant (String), и результат возвращает значение Variant (String). Если оба выражения возвращают строку, результат возвращает значение String.
vbCrLf	Константа vbCrLf сочетает в себе возврат каретки и перевод строки (Chr(13) + Chr(10)) и переносит последующий текст на новую строку (результат = строка1 & vbCrLf & строка2).
vbNewLine	Константа vbNewLine в VBA Excel аналогична константе vbCrLf, также сочетает в себе возврат каретки и перевод строки (Chr(13) + Chr(10)) и переносит текст на новую строку (результат = строка1 & vbNewLine & строка2).

Примеры

Вывод прямых парных кавычек

Прямые парные кавычки в VBA Excel являются спецсимволами и вывести их, заключив в самих себя или в одинарные кавычки (апострофы), невозможно. Для этого подойдет функция Chr:

Sub Primer1()     ‘Вывод одной прямой парной кавычки MsgBox Chr(34)     ‘Отображение текста в прямых кавычках MsgBox Chr(34) & «Волга» & Chr(34)     ‘Вывод 10 прямых парных кавычек подряд MsgBox String(10, Chr(34)) End Sub

Смотрите интересное решение по выводу прямых кавычек с помощью прямых кавычек в первом комментарии.

Отображение слов наоборот

Преобразование слова «налим» в «Милан»:

Sub Primer2() Dim stroka     stroka = «налим»     stroka = StrReverse(stroka) ‘милан     stroka = StrConv(stroka, 3) ‘Милан MsgBox stroka End Sub

или одной строкой:

Sub Primer3() MsgBox StrConv(StrReverse(«налим»), 3) End Sub

Преобразование слова «лето» в «отель»:

Sub Primer4() Dim stroka     stroka = «лето»     stroka = StrReverse(stroka) ‘отел     stroka = stroka & «ь» ‘отель MsgBox stroka End Sub

или одной строкой:

Sub Primer5() MsgBox StrReverse(«лето») & «ь» End Sub

Печатная машинка

Следующий код VBA Excel в замедленном режиме посимвольно печатает указанную строку на пользовательской форме, имитируя печатную машинку.

Для реализации этого примера понадобится пользовательская форма (UserForm1) с надписью (Label1) и кнопкой (CommandButton1):

Код имитации печатной машинки состоит из двух процедур, первая из которых замедляет выполнение второй, создавая паузу перед отображением очередного символа, что и создает эффект печатающей машинки:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Sub StopSub(Pause As Single) Dim Start As Single Start = Timer     Do While Timer < Start + Pause        DoEvents     Loop End Sub Private Sub CommandButton1_Click() Dim stroka As String, i As Byte stroka = «Печатная машинка!» Label1.Caption = «»     For i = 1 To Len(stroka)         Call StopSub(0.25) ‘пауза в секундах         ‘следующая строка кода добавляет очередную букву         Label1.Caption = Label1.Caption & Mid(stroka, i, 1)     Next End Sub

Обе процедуры размещаются в модуле формы. Нажатие кнопки CommandButton1 запустит замедленную печать символов в поле надписи, имитируя печатную машинку.

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VBA LEN function in Excel is categorized as a Text/String function in VBA. It is a built-in function in MS Office Excel. It returns the length of a given string. It has one mandatory String parameter. If input string has Null, then it returns null. We use in both Worksheet and VBA function.
The LEN function can use in either procedure or function in a VBA editor window in Excel. We can use this VBA LEN function any number of times in any number of procedures or functions. In the following section we learn what is the syntax and parameters of the LEN function, where we can use this LEN function and real-time examples in VBA.

Table of Contents:

• Overview
• Syntax of VBA LEN Function
• Parameters or Arguments
• Where we can apply or use the VBA LEN Function?
• Example 1: Find Length of a string:”987654321″
• Example 2: Find Length of a string:”Life is Beautiful.”
• Example 3: Find Length of empty string:””
• Example 4: Find Length of a string::”123$#@”
• Instructions to Run VBA Macro Code
• Other Useful Resources

The syntax of the VBA LEN function is

Len(Expression)

Note: This LEN function founds the length of specified string.

Parameters or Arguments

This function has one mandatory parameter or argument for the LEN Function.
Where
Expression: The expression is a mandatory argument. The expression is the string which we want to know the length.

Where we can apply or use the VBA LEN Function?

We can use this VBA LEN function in MS Office 365, MS Excel 2016, MS Excel 2013, 2011, Excel 2010, Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel 2016 for Mac, Excel 2011 for Mac, Excel Online, Excel for iPhone, Excel for iPad, Excel for Android tablets and Excel for Android Mobiles.

Example 1: Find Length of a string:”987654321″

Here is a simple example of the VBA LEN function. This below example macro returns the length a given string (Includes numbers).

'Find Length of a string:"987654321"
Sub VBA_Len_Function_Ex1()

    Dim sString As String, iCnt As Integer
    
    sString = "987654321"
    
    iCnt = Len(sString)
    
    MsgBox "The length of a given string is : " & iCnt, vbInformation, "VBA Len Function"

End Sub

Output: Here is the screen shot of the first example output.

Example 2: Find Length of a string:”Life is Beautiful.”

Here is a simple example of the VBA LEN function. This below example macro returns the length a given string (Includes space and dot).

'Find Length of a string:"Life is Beautiful."
Sub VBA_Len_Function_Ex()

    Dim sString As String, iCnt As Integer
    
    sString = "Life is Beautiful."
    
    iCnt = Len(sString)
    
    MsgBox "The length of a given string is : " & iCnt, vbInformation, "VBA Len Function"

End Sub

Output: Here is the screen shot of the second example output.

Example 3: Find Length of empty string:””

Here is a simple example of the VBA LEN function. This below example macro returns zero if it is empty string.

'Find Length of empty string:""
Sub VBA_Len_Function_Ex3()

    Dim sString As String, iCnt As Integer
    
    sString = ""
    
    iCnt = Len(sString)
    
    MsgBox "The length of a given string is : " & iCnt, vbInformation, "VBA Len Function"
End Sub

Output: Here is the screen shot of the third example output.

Example 4: Find Length of a string::”123$#@”

Here is a simple example of the VBA LEN function. This below example macro returns the length a given string (Includes special characters).

'Find Length of a string::"123$#@"
Sub VBA_Len_Function_Ex4()

    Dim sString As String, iCnt As Integer
    
    sString = "123$#@"
    
    iCnt = Len(sString)
    
    MsgBox "The length of a given string is : " & iCnt, vbInformation, "VBA Len Function"

End Sub

Output: Here is the screen shot of the fourth example output.

Instructions to Run VBA Macro Code or Procedure:

You can refer the following link for the step by step instructions.

Instructions to run VBA Macro Code

Other Useful Resources:

Click on the following links of the useful resources. These helps to learn and gain more knowledge.

VBA Tutorial VBA Functions List VBA Arrays in Excel Blog

VBA Editor Keyboard Shortcut Keys List VBA Interview Questions & Answers

This tutorial will demonstrate how to use the Len VBA function to get the length of a string.

Len Function

The VBA Len function returns the length of a specified string.

VBA Len Count Characters

The VBA Len function counts the characters in a string.

Sub LenExample_1()

MsgBox Len("12345")                    'Result is: 5

MsgBox Len("12")                       'Result is: 2

MsgBox Len("1")                         'Result is: 1

MsgBox Len(" ")                         'Result is: 1

'There is a space character in there.

MsgBox Len("")                          'Result is: 0

MsgBox Len("AB Cd")                     'Result is: 5

End Sub

VBA Len Strings or Variants

VBA Len Function can count the number of characters in variables declared as strings or variants. Actually, VBA Len will treat a variant as a string. If VBA Len is used with an integer, long, single or double then VBA Len is going to count the number of bytes needed to store the variable.

Sub LenExample_2()

Dim VarEx1 As String
VarEx1 = 12345
MsgBox Len(VarEx1)        'Result is: 5
'Len is counting the number of characters in variable

Dim VarEx2 As Variant
VarEx2 = 12345
MsgBox Len(VarEx2)        'Result is: 5
'Len is counting the number of characters in variable

Dim VarEx3 As Integer
VarEx3 = 12345
MsgBox Len(VarEx3)        'Result is: 2
'Len is counting the number of bytes used to store the variable

Dim VarEx4 As Long
VarEx4 = 12345
MsgBox Len(VarEx4)        'Result is: 2
'Len is counting the number of bytes used to store the variable

Dim VarEx5 As Single
VarEx5 = 12345
MsgBox Len(VarEx5)        'Result is: 2
'Len is counting the number of bytes used to store the variable

Dim VarEx6 As Double
VarEx6 = 12345
MsgBox Len(VarEx6)        'Result is: 2
'Len is counting the number of bytes used to store the variable

End Sub

VBA Len Count Occurrences of a Character

VBA Len function can be used with VBA Replace function to count how many times a character is found in a string.

VBA Replace Function can replace a substring with another substring in a text:

MsgBox Replace("XBCX", "X", "7")      'Result is: "7BC7"

We can use Replace to remove the characters we want to count with “” and then find the difference in length before and after the replacement.

Sub LenExample_3()

Dim StrEx As String 'Define a string variable
StrEx = "Jack,John,Jim,Jordan"

MsgBox Len(StrEx) - Len(Replace(StrEx, ",", "")) 'Result is: 3

'Breaking down the code above
MsgBox Len(StrEx)                       'Result is: 20
MsgBox Replace(StrEx, ",", "")          'Result is: "JackJohnJimJordan"
MsgBox Len(Replace(StrEx, ",", ""))     'Result is: 17

MsgBox Len(StrEx) - Len(Replace(StrEx, ",", "")) 'Result is: 20-17=3
End Sub

VBA Len Count Occurrences of a Substring

VBA Len function can be used with VBA Replace function to count how many times a substring is found in a string.

VBA Replace Function can replace a substring with another substring in a text:

MsgBox Replace("XB cX", "X", "7")      'Result is: "7B c7"

We can use Replace to remove the substrings we want to count with “” and then find the difference in length before and after the replacement. Finally, we need to divide the difference with the length of the substring we replaced.

Sub LenExample_4()
Dim StrEx As String 'Define a string variable
StrEx = "Jack, John, Jim, Jordan"

Dim SubStr As String 'Define a substring variable
SubStr = ", "
'We will find how many times SubStr is found inside StrEx

MsgBox (Len(StrEx) - Len(Replace(StrEx, SubStr, ""))) / Len(SubStr) 'Result is: 3

'Breaking down the code above
MsgBox Len(StrEx)                       'Result is: 23
MsgBox Replace(StrEx, SubStr, "")          'Result is: "JackJohnJimJordan"
MsgBox Len(Replace(StrEx, SubStr, ""))     'Result is: 17

MsgBox Len(StrEx) - Len(Replace(StrEx, SubStr, "")) 'Result is: 23-17=6
MsgBox (Len(StrEx) - Len(Replace(StrEx, SubStr, ""))) / Len(SubStr)
'Result is: (23-17)/2=3
End Sub

Quick Guide to String Functions

String operations	Function(s)
Append two or more strings	Format or «&»
Build a string from an array	Join
Compare — normal	StrComp or «=»
Compare — pattern	Like
Convert to a string	CStr, Str
Convert string to date	Simple: CDate Advanced: Format
Convert string to number	Simple: CLng, CInt, CDbl, Val Advanced: Format
Convert to unicode, wide, narrow	StrConv
Convert to upper/lower case	StrConv, UCase, LCase
Extract part of a string	Left, Right, Mid
Format a string	Format
Find characters in a string	InStr, InStrRev
Generate a string	String
Get length of a string	Len
Remove blanks	LTrim, RTrim, Trim
Replace part of a string	Replace
Reverse a string	StrReverse
Parse string to array	Split

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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.

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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

Function	Parameters	Description	Example
Left	string, length	Return chars from left side	Left(«John Smith»,4)
Right	string, length	Return chars from right side	Right(«John Smith»,5)
Mid	string, start, length	Return chars from middle	Mid(«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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

Function	Params	Description	Example
InStr	String1, String2	Finds position of string	InStr(«John Smith»,»h»)
InStrRev	StringCheck, StringMatch	Finds position of string from end	InStrRev(«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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

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Removing Blanks

Function	Params	Description	Example
LTrim	string	Removes spaces from left	LTrim(» John «)
RTrim	string	Removes spaces from right	RTrim(» John «)
Trim	string	Removes Spaces from left and right	Trim(» 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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

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Length of a String

Function	Params	Description	Example
Len	string	Returns length of string	Len («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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

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Reversing a String

Function	Params	Description	Example
StrReverse	string	Reverses a string	StrReverse («John Smith»)

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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
Sub RevStr()

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

End Sub

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Comparing Strings

Function	Params	Description	Example
StrComp	string1, string2	Compares 2 strings	StrComp («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 Value	Description
0	Strings match
-1	string1 less than string2
1	string1 greater than string2
Null	if either string is null

Use and Examples

The following are some examples of using the StrComp function

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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:

1. The equals sign returns only true or false.
2. 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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
Option Compare Text

Sub CompareWithNotEqual()

    ' Returns false
    Debug.Print "ABC" <> "ABC"
    ' Returns false 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

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Comparing Strings using Pattern Matching

Operator	Params	Description	Example
Like	string, string pattern	checks if string has the given pattern	«abX» Like «??X» «54abc5» Like «*abc#»

Token	Meaning
?	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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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 6; "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 Example 3: Check if a filename is valid.

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.

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Replace Part of a String

Function	Params	Description	Example
Replace	string, find, replace, start, count, compare	Replaces a substring with a substring	Replace («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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

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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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

Function	Params	Description	Example
CStr	expression	Converts a number variable to a string	CStr («45.78»)
Str	number	Converts a number variable to a string	Str («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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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 your string conversions.

It is good to 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.

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

Function	Returns	Example
CBool	Boolean	CBool(«True»), CBool(«0»)
CCur	Currency	CCur(«245.567»)
CDate	Date	CDate(«1/1/2017»)
CDbl	Double	CCur(«245.567»)
CDec	Decimal	CDec(«245.567»)
CInt	Integer	CInt(«45»)
CLng	Long Integer	CLng(«45.78»)
CVar	Variant	CVar(«»)

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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

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Generate a String of items – String Function

Function	Params	Description	Example
String	number, character	Converts a number variable to a string	String (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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

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Convert Case/Unicode – StrConv, UCase, LCase

Function	Params	Description	Example
StrConv	string, conversion, LCID	Converts a String	StrConv(«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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

Constant	Value	Converts
vbUpperCase	1	to upper case
vbLowerCase	2	to lower case
vbProperCase	3	first letter of each word to uppercase
vbWide*	4	from Narrow to Wide
vbNarrow*	8	from Wide to Narrow
vbKatakana**	16	from Hiragana to Katakana
vbHiragana	32	from Katakana to Hiragana
vbUnicode	64	to unicode
vbFromUnicode	128	from unicode

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Using Strings With Arrays

Function	Params	Description	Example
Split	expression, delimiter, limit, compare	Parses a delimited string to an array	arr = Split(«A;B;C»,»;»)
Join	source array, delimiter	Converts a one dimensional array to a string	s = 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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

You can find a complete guide to the split function here.

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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

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Formatting a String

Function	Params	Description	Example
Format	expression, format, firstdayofweek, firstweekofyear	Formats 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.

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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

' https://excelmacromastery.com/
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.

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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.

What’s Next?

Free VBA Tutorial If you are new to VBA or you want to sharpen your existing VBA skills then why not try out the The Ultimate VBA Tutorial.

Related Training: Get full access to the Excel VBA training webinars and all the tutorials.

(NOTE: Planning to build or manage a VBA Application? Learn how to build 10 Excel VBA applications from scratch.)