RESERVED WORDS

The Visual Basic programming language is made up of a large number of keywords (also referred to as reserved words) that have very specific meanings. An example of a reserved word is Dim, which is used to declare variables and arrays. Because it is a reserved word, you can only use the Dim keyword in your Visual Basic applications when you follow its syntax rules. In other words, you cannot use Dim as a variable name or as a name for any other programming construction (constants, arrays, structures, procedures, and so on).

DEFINITION

A reserved word is one that Visual Basic sets aside for a specific purpose. You may only use reserved words in your Visual Basic applications If you follow the rules that govern their usage.

Table 5.4 provides a listing of Visual Basic reserved words for your review.

Table 5.4: Visual Basic Reserved Words

AddHandler	AddressOf	Alias	And
AndAlso	Ansi	As	Assembly
Auto	Boolean	ByRef	Byte
ByVal	Call	Case	Catch
Cbool	Cbyte	Cchar	Cdate
Cdec	CDbl	Char	Cint
Class	CLng	Cobj	Const
Cshort	CSng	CStr	Ctype
Date	Decimal	Declare	Default
Delegate	Dim	DirectCast	Do
Double	Each	Else	Elself
End	EndIf	Enum	Erase
Error	Event	Exit	False
Finally	For	Friend	Function
Get	GetType	Global	GoSub
GoTo	Handles	If	Implements
Imports	In	Inherits	Integer
Interface	Is	Let	Lib
Like	Long	Loop	Me
Mod	Module	Mustlnherit	MustOverride
MyBase	MyClass	Namespace	New
Next	Not	Nothing	Notlnheritable
NotOverridable	Object	On	Option
Optional	Or	OrElse	Overloads
Overridable	Overrides	ParamArray	Preserve
Private	Property	Protected	Public
RaiseEvent	ReadOnly	ReDim	REM
RemoveHandler	Resume	Return	Select
Set	Shadows	Shared	Short
Single	Static	Step	Stop
String	Structure	Sub	SyncLock
Then	Throw	To	True
Try	TryCast	TypeOf	Unicode
Until	Variant	Wend	When
While	With	WithEvents	WriteOnly
Xor	#Const	#ExternalSource	#If…Then…#Else
#Region	-	&	&=
*	*=	/	/=
\	\=	^	^=
+	+=	=	-=