Name
Val Function
Class
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Conversion
Syntax
Val(expression
)
-
expression
Use: Required
Data Type: String or Char
Any string representation of a number
Return Value
A Double able to hold the number contained in
expression
Description
Converts a string representation of a number into a Double
Rules at a Glance
The
Val
function starts reading the string with the leftmost character and stops at the first character that it does not recognize as being part of a valid number. For example, the statement:iNumber = Val("1A1")
returns 1.
&O
and&H
(the octal and hexadecimal prefixes) are recognized by theVal
function.Currency symbols, such as $ and £, and delimiters, such as commas, are not recognized as numbers by the
Val
function.The
Val
function only recognizes the period (.) as a decimal delimiter.Prior to processing
expression
,Val
removes spaces, tabs, and line-feed characters.
Programming Tips and Gotchas
If you are developing an international application, you should use
the more modern, internationally aware CDbl
function to convert strings to numbers, since
CDbl
can recognize all decimal separators.
Get VB .NET Language in a Nutshell now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.