Share via


Calculating String Length

This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.

Often you must know the length of a string to parse its contents. You can use the Len function to calculate the length of a string:

Dim lngLen As Long
lngLen = Len(strText)

When Microsoft® Visual Basic® for Applications (VBA) stores a string in memory, it always stores the length of the string in a long integer at the beginning of the string. The Len function retrieves this value and is therefore quite fast.

The Len function is useful when you must determine whether a string is a zero-length string (""). Rather than comparing the string in question to a zero-length string to determine whether they're equivalent, you can simply check whether the length of the string is equal to 0. For example:

If Len(strText) > 0 Then
   ' Perform some operation here.
End If

See Also

Getting the Most Out of Visual Basic for Applications | Working with Strings | Comparing Strings | Searching a String | Returning Portions of a String | Working with Strings as Arrays | Replacing Text Within a String | Converting Strings | Working with String Variables