&= Operator (Visual Basic)
Concatenates a String expression to a String variable or property and assigns the result to the variable or property.
variableorproperty &= expression
Parts
variableorproperty
Required. Any String variable or property.expression
Required. Any String expression.
Remarks
The element on the left side of the &= operator can be a simple scalar variable, a property, or an element of an array. The variable or property cannot be ReadOnly (Visual Basic). The &= operator assigns the value on its right to the variable or property on its left.
Overloading
The & Operator (Visual Basic) can be overloaded, which means that a class or structure can redefine its behavior when an operand has the type of that class or structure. Overloading the & operator affects the behavior of the &= operator. If your code uses &= on a class or structure that overloads &, be sure you understand its redefined behavior. For more information, see Operator Procedures.
Example
The following example uses the &= operator to concatenate two String variables and assign the result to the first variable.
Dim var1 As String = "Hello "
Dim var2 As String = "World!"
var1 &= var2
' The value of var1 is now "Hello World!".
See Also
Concepts
Reference
Concatenation Operators (Visual Basic)