INFO: Type Declaration Character to Data Type Chart

ID: Q191713

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, version 6.0
Microsoft Visual Basic Control Creation, Learning, and Professional Editions for Windows, version 5.0
Microsoft Visual Basic Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

This article shows you the type declaration characters and corresponding data types. A Type Declaration Character is a character appended to a variable name indicating the variable's data type. For example, the variable name MyString$ has a dollar sign appended to the variable name and is dimensioned as a String data type.

MORE INFORMATION

The following table shows the type declaration characters and corresponding data types.


Type Declaration Character  Data Type
--------------------------  ---------
<BLOCKQUOTE>
          %                 Integer
          &                 Long
          !                 Single
          #                 Double
          $                 String
          @                 Currency

Even when using type declaration characters, you still need to declare your variables when you have Option Explicit at the beginning of the Module. Using Option Explicit is recommended to prevent problems due to misspelled variable names. When "Require Variable Declaration" is checked in the Editor Tab of the Options dialog box from the Tools Menu, Option Explicit is added to new Modules automatically. If you use Option Explicit, but you do not declare your variables, you will receive the following error message at run-time:

Compile Error
Variable Not Defined

To prevent this error from occurring, you can either remove Option Explicit or explicitly declare your variables. Using type declaration characters allows you to shorten these statements. For example, you can use this:


   Dim MyVar$

instead of this:


   Dim MyVar As String

Both statements declare MyVar to be a memory variable of type String.

Additional query words: kbDSupport kbDSD kbVBp kbVBp400 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbVBA kbNoKeyWord

Keywords : kbGrpVB
Version :
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo