VarType Function

VarType Function

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Class

Microsoft.VisualBasic.Information

Syntax

 VarType(   varname   ) 

varname (required; any)

The name of a variable

Return Value

A member of the VariantType enumeration indicating the variable type

Description

Determines the data type of a variable

Rules at a Glance

• The possible values returned by the function include the following members of the VariantType enumeration:

Constant	Value	Description
Array	8192	Array
Boolean	11	Boolean data type
Byte	17	Byte data type
Char	18	Char data type
Date	7	Date data type
Decimal	14	Decimal data type
Double	5	Double data type
Integer	3	Integer data type
Long	20	Long data type
Object	9	Object, uninitialized string, uninitialized array, object of a specific type
Short	2	Short data type
Single	4	Single data type
String	8	String
UserDefinedType	36	A structure

• If varname is a dimensioned array, the VarTyp e function returns VariantType.Array (8192), plus the value of the array's data type. For example, an array of strings returns 8192 + 8 = 8200 . You can test for an array with a code fragment such as the following:

   If VarType(myVar) And VariantType.Array Then 

  You can extract the data type of the array with the following code fragment:

   vartype(myVar) and &HFFFFDFFF 

• All object variables , whether late-bound or early-bound, return VariantType.Object .

• Data types that are members of the base class library but are not wrapped by VB data types (i.e., UINT16, UINT32 etc.) return VariantType.UserDefinedType .

VB.NET/VB 6 Differences

• In VB 6, passing a user -defined type as an argument to the VarType function generated an error. VB.NET allows you to pass a structure as an argument to the function.

• In VB 6, the Vartype function indicates that the data type of an object is the data type of its default property. In VB.NET, all objects, including objects (like Collection objects) that have default properties, return VariantType. Object .

See Also

TypeName Function