Strings, or text data, play a significant role in data processing and analysis in Excel VBA. Whether you’re cleaning data, extracting specific information, or formatting text, mastering string manipulation techniques is essential. In this article, we’ll explore various aspects of string in Excel VBA, explaining each concept with practical examples.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n Before you manipulate strings, you need to declare and initialize them. In VBA, you can declare a string variable using the Dim statement.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n String concatenation is the process of combining two or more strings. In Excel VBA, you can use the In VBA, there is a difference between the This operator is specifically used for string concatenation. When you use The <\/a><\/p>\n To determine the length of a string, you can use the <\/a><\/p>\n To extract a substring from a larger string, you can use following three functions: This function requires the starting position and the length of the substring.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n You can split a string into an array of substrings using the Split function. This is useful when dealing with delimited data.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n VBA provides functions for converting the case of strings. You can use upperString: <\/a><\/p>\n The Trim function removes leading and trailing spaces from a string, making it useful for cleaning data.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n You can replace one substring with another using the Replace function. <\/a><\/p>\n To compare two strings for equality, you can use the StrComp function. It returns 0 if the strings are equal.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n To find the position of a substring within a string, you can use the InStr function.<\/p>\n1. Declaring and Initializing Strings<\/h2>\n
\r\nDim myString As String\r\nmyString = \"Hello, vmlogger!\"\r\n<\/pre>\n
2. How to do string Concatenation<\/h2>\n
& operator<\/code> or the + operator<\/code> for this purpose.<\/p>\n\r\nDim firstName As String\r\nDim lastName As String\r\nDim fullName As String\r\n\r\nfirstName = \"John\"\r\nlastName = \"Doe\"\r\n\r\n' Using the & operator\r\nfullName = firstName & \" \" & lastName\r\n\r\n' Using the + operator\r\nfullName = firstName + \" \" + lastName\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
& operator<\/code> and the + operator<\/code> when it comes to string concatenation.<\/p>\n2.1 Concatenate string using
& Operator (Ampersand)<\/code>:<\/h3>\n&<\/code> to concatenate strings, VBA ensures that the operands are treated as strings, and it performs the concatenation accordingly. It’s the preferred operator for joining strings in VBA.<\/p>\nExample:<\/h4>\n
\r\nDim str1 As String\r\nDim str2 As String\r\n\r\nstr1 = \"Hello, \"\r\nstr2 = \"World!\"\r\nDim result As String\r\nresult = str1 & str2\r\n<\/pre>\n
result<\/code> will be : \"Hello, World!<\/code>”\n<\/div>\n2.2 Concatenate string using
+ Operator (Plus Sign)<\/code>:<\/h3>\n+ operator<\/code> is used for arithmetic addition. While it can also be used for string concatenation, it may not be as reliable or straightforward as the & operator<\/code>. Using +<\/code>< for concatenation may lead to unexpected results if the operands are not explicitly declared as strings.\n\n\n\nExample:<\/h4>\n
\r\nDim str1 As String\r\nDim str2 As String\r\n\r\nstr1 = \"Hello, \"\r\nstr2 = \"World!\"\r\nDim result As String\r\nresult = str1 + str2\r\n<\/pre>\n
result<\/code> will be : \"Hello, World!<\/code>”
\nresult may not work as expected and might lead to errors if the both the variables are not string. If one of them is number then concatinaiton will fail.\n<\/div>\n& operator<\/code> for string concatenation in VBA because it is designed specifically for this purpose and ensures that the operands are treated as strings. While the + operator<\/code> may work in some cases, it’s safer and more reliable to stick with & when working with strings in VBA.\n<\/div>\n3. How to get
length of a String<\/code> in Excel VBA<\/h2>\nLen<\/code> function.<\/p>\n\r\nDim myString As String\r\nmyString = \"Hello, World!\"\r\nDim length As Integer\r\nlength = Len(myString)\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
13<\/code>. This is the total number of characters in myString<\/strong> variable.\n<\/div>\n4. How to extract Substring from a String<\/h2>\n
Mid()<\/code>, Left()<\/code> and Right()<\/code>. <\/p>\n4.1 Substring using
Mid()<\/code> Function<\/h3>\n\r\nDim originalString As String\r\noriginalString = \"This is a sample string\"\r\nDim subString As String\r\nsubString = Mid(originalString, 6, 6)\r\n<\/pre>\n
\nThis is a s<\/code><\/strong>ample string\n<\/div>\n5. How to split a delimitted string in to array<\/h2>\n
\r\nDim data As String\r\ndata = \"Apple,Orange,Banana\"\r\nDim items() As String\r\nitems = Split(data, \",\")\r\n<\/pre>\n
\"Apple\", \"Orange\", \"Banana\"<\/code>\n<\/div>\n6. How to convert a string case to upper case or lower case<\/h2>\n
UCase<\/code> for uppercase and LCase<\/code> for lowercase.<\/p>\n\r\nDim originalString As String\r\noriginalString = \"Hello, World!\"\r\nDim upperString As String\r\nDim lowerString As String\r\n\r\nupperString = UCase(originalString) \r\nlowerString = LCase(originalString)\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
HELLO, WORLD!<\/code>
\nlowerString: hello world!<\/code><\/strong>\n<\/div>\n7. How to Trim Whitespace from a string<\/h2>\n
\r\nDim originalString As String\r\noriginalString = \" Trim this text \"\r\nDim trimmedString As String\r\ntrimmedString = Trim(originalString)\r\n<\/pre>\n
Trim this text<\/code>\n<\/div>\n8. How to replace a part of string<\/h2>\n
Note:<\/code> String is immutable. That means, you can not change the value of a string instead it creates another string with the replaced value.<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\nDim originalString As String\r\noriginalString = \"Replace the old text with new text.\"\r\nDim updatedString As String\r\nupdatedString = Replace(originalString, \"old text\", \"new text\")\r\n<\/pre>\n
Replace the new text with new text.<\/code>. Although, if you print the value of originalString<\/strong> it will still print Replace the old text with new text.<\/code> because string is immutable. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n9. How to do string Comparisons<\/h2>\n
\r\nDim string1 As String\r\nDim string2 As String\r\n\r\nstring1 = \"apple\"\r\nstring2 = \"Apple\"\r\nDim result As Integer\r\nresult = StrComp(string1, string2, vbTextCompare)\r\n<\/pre>\n
0<\/code> (strings are equal when compared without being case sensitive)\n<\/div>\n10. How to search a String or substring<\/h2>\n
\r\nDim originalString As String\r\noriginalString = \"Find me in this text.\"\r\n\r\nDim position As Integer\r\nposition = InStr(originalString, \"me\")\r\n' position is 6\r\n<\/pre>\n
6<\/code> because me<\/strong> is found at the 6th position in the original string.\n<\/div>\n