Vba excel функция len

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

Visual Basic  for Applications or VBA is an event driven programming language which enhances, the applications of the Microsoft Office suite of products. It’s also an object-oriented programming language with an associated integrated development environment. It is most often used to create macros which automate routine tasks in MS office applications. However, VBA is most commonly used in MS Excel. You can code in VBA which will interact with or output to your excel spreadsheet.

You can learn more about using VBA Macros with Excel in this introductory course.

Strings are an important part of any programming language. A string is basically any kind of saved text. You can do a number of operations on strings including concatenation, reversal, sorting, finding string length, deriving substrings, searching for specific character in a string and more. Today, we introduce you to the concept of VBA string length. We assume that you know the basic concepts of Excel VBA and strings. If you are not familiar with these concepts we suggest that you go through our tutorial on basics of VBA.

What is a String?

A string is an array of characters. String length is the number of characters in a string. The variable which stores a string is declared as string data type. It is then assigned a value. Take a look at the example given here:

Dim MyName as String
MyName=" John Smith"

The string type has built-in functions that help you perform several manipulations on a string. To understand the example on string length you need to have a basic knowledge of programming.  The best way to learn more about strings and string manipulation would be to take a basic course on C programming. Yes, C programming. You’ll find most other courses just brush through strings, or assume you already know about them. C being a basic programming language, most C courses will cover all data types in depth, including strings.

VBA Function to Calculate the Length of a String

MS Len function calculates the length of a string and returns it as a value. The syntax of this function is as follows:

Len( text )

Len() function works in the versions starting from Excel 2000 to Excel 2013. Take a look at the example below:

Dim LResult As Long
LResult = Len ("http://www.shutterstock.com/")

In case you’d like to, you can check out this tutorial on strings in C, and see how they compare.

Determining Whether a String is a Fixed Length String or Resizable

In VBA, strings are resizable. The string functions of VBA can be used to set or retrieve parts of strings which have variable length. However, there are times when you require fixed length strings.

Dim A as String *10

In the above statement, A is declared as string of 10 characters. The drawback of this method is that the length of the string is permanently fixed at 10. The size of the string cannot be resized at run time. You cannot increase or decrease the length of the string. It is a must to know the length of the string at the time of coding. At times you may need to find out whether a string variable is a fixed length string or a resizable string. It is not possible to do this with a function call as VBA converts fixed length strings to resizable strings while passing the string variable to a function. Therefore you have to write code within the function in which string is declared to determine whether string is fixed or resizable.

Example1: Program to Test for Fixed Length Strings

Dim A As String
Dim B As String * 10
Dim Orig_Len As Long
Dim Orig_Val As String
B = "ABC"
A = "DEF"
Orig_Len = Len(B)
Orig_Val = B
B = B & " "
If Orig_Len = Len(B) Then
Debug.Print "B is a fixed length string"
Else
Debug.Print "B is a sizable string"
B = OrigVal
End If
Orig_Len = Len(A)
OrigVal = AA = A & " "
If Orig_Len = Len(A) Then
Debug.Print "A is a fixed length string"
Else
Debug.Print "A is a sizable string"
A = OrigVal
End If

In this program the variables are declared as type string. The length of the String variable is calculated using the Len(string length) function. Then the variable is concatenated with a space character. The string length is recalculated. The first and second string length value is compared. If both are same the string is of type fixed length string. If both are different then the string is of type resizable string. To understand more about strings and VBA macros, you can try out this course on Excel VBA.

Example 2: Convert a String’s Original Length to a Specified Length

Let’s take another example. Here’s a VBA Program to return a string variable containing the specified text either on the right or left, padded with PadChar to make a string of a specified length.

Public Enum Size_StringSide
Text_Left = 1
Text_Right = 2
End Enum
Public Function SizeString(Text1 As String, Length1 As Long, _
Optional ByVal TextSide As Size_StringSide = Text_Left,  _
Optional PadChar As String = " ") As String
Dim sPadChar As String
If Len(Text1) >= Length1 Then
SizeString = Left(Text1, Length1)
Exit Function
End If
If Len(PadChar) = 0 Then
sPadChar = " "
Else
sPadChar = Left(PadChar, 1)
End If
If (TextSide <> Text_Left) And (TextSide <> Text_Right) Then
TextSide = Text_Left
End If
If TextSide = Text_Left Then
SizeString = Text1 & String(Length1 - Len(Text1), sPadChar)
Else
SizeString = String(Length1 - Len(Text1), sPadChar) & Text1
End If
End Function

Text1 stands for the original string. Length1 stands for the length of the result string. Textside indicates whether text should come on the left in which case the result is padded on the right using PadChar. In case text should appear on the right, the string is padded on the left. A space is used if padChar is omitted. If PadChar is longer than one character we use the left most character of padChar. If TextSide is neither Text_Left nor Text_Right by default, the procedure uses Text_left.

Example 3: Find Tab Character in a String

Dim tab_Str as String
Dim char as String
Dim length_i As Integer
Dim xCntr_i As Integer
tab_Str = "good" & vbTab & "morning"
length_i = Len(tab_Str)
char = Left(tab_Str, 1)
For xCntr_i = 0 To length_i - 1
tabString = Right(tab_Str, Len(tab_Str) - 1)
If char = Chr(9) Then
MsgBox "Index number " & xCntr_i & " is a tab in the String."
End If
char = Left(tab_Str, 1)
Next xCntr_i

In this program, the variables tab_str, char are declared as data type string. length_i and xCntr_i are declared as integers. Variable tab_Str is assigned value string which contains a tab character. The length of the string contained in tab_Str is calculated using the len() function. Then we loop through each character in the string and check for the tab character. In the end, we display the position of the tab character in the string using MsgBox() function.

You can try out more Excel VBA examples with MrExcel in this course.

Mastering programming requires that you put in the effort to create your own unique programs. Though reading through existing code helps, what works better is experimenting with the code and trying out different stuff on your own. Hope this tutorial helped you on your way to become a proficient VBA programmer. Once you’re ready to take it to the next level, you can move on to our advanced Excel course!