&= Operator (Visual Basic)

Concatenates a String expression to a String variable or property and assigns the result to the variable or property.

variableorproperty &= expression  

variableorproperty
Required. Any String variable or property.

expression
Required. Any String expression.

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. The &= operator concatenates the String expression on its right to the String variable or property on its left, and assigns the result to the variable or property on its left.

The & Operator 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.

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!".

• & Operator
• += Operator
• Assignment Operators
• Concatenation Operators
• Operator Precedence in Visual Basic
• Operators Listed by Functionality
• Statements