As I've already figured out, there is at least six of them: !@#$%&
.
Here is snip:
Dim A!, B@, C#, D$, E%, F& Debug.Print "A! - " & TypeName(A) Debug.Print "B@ - " & TypeName(B) Debug.Print "C# - " & TypeName(C) Debug.Print "D$ - " & TypeName(D) Debug.Print "E% - " & TypeName(E) Debug.Print "F& - " & TypeName(F)
Outputs
A! - Single B@ - Currency C# - Double D$ - String E% - Integer F& - Long
Where is documentation on this syntax sugar?
What other possible suffixes are there?
Is there one for Date?
As of Microsoft Excel 2010, VBA variable names are subject to the following restrictions: They must begin with a letter. Numbers and underscores can be used later in the name. They cannot exceed 255 characters in length.
Visual Basic. Dim a() As Byte, u As Long, j As Long, s As Long, n As Long, q As Variant Dim a() As Byte, u&, j&, s&, n&, q.
A dictionary would probably help in this case, it's designed for scripting, and while it won't let you create "dynamic" variables, the dictionary's items are dynamic, and can serve similar purpose as "variables". You can check for existence using the . Exist method if you need to worry about overwriting or not.
These suffixes are type hints, and the link in the accepted answer is outdated.
Dim someInteger% '% Equivalent to "As Integer"
Dim someLong& '& Equivalent to "As Long"
Dim someDecimal@ '@ Equivalent to "As Currency"
Dim someSingle! '! Equivalent to "As Single"
Dim someDouble# '# Equivalent to "As Double"
Dim someString$ '$ Equivalent to "As String"
Dim someLongLong^ '^ Equivalent to "As LongLong" in 64-bit VBA hosts
So you had them all, except ^
for LongLong
, introduced in VBA7 for 64-bit host applications. Exactly why Microsoft introduced a new type hint for a new value type is beyond me though.
It's more syntax poison than syntax sugar though, and dates all the way back from ancestral, dinosaurian versions of BASIC before the As
clause was a thing, for example in this Commodore 64 BASIC 2.0 fizzbuzz code:
1000 REM INIT VARIABLES
1010 LET FIZZ$ = "FIZZ"
1011 LET BUZZ$ = "BUZZ"
1020 LET FIZZ% = 3
1021 LET BUZZ% = 5
1030 LET MIN% = 1
1031 LET MAX% = 15
1100 PRINT FIZZ$ + ":" + STR$(FIZZ%)
1101 PRINT BUZZ$ + ":" + STR$(BUZZ%)
1102 PRINT FIZZ$ + BUZZ$ + ":" + STR$(FIZZ%*BUZZ%)
1105 PRINT
As you can see, type hints aren't the only paleo-code that VBA supports: line numbers, Rem
comments, and explicit Let
value assigments were also a thing in 1982. Avoid them at all costs.
In literals, prefer explicit conversions over type hints:
Debug.Print TypeName(32&) 'prints Long
Debug.Print TypeName(CLng(32)) 'prints Long
Ask yourself not whether you can, ask yourself whether you should. -- unknown
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