Using Left, Right, Mid and Len in Visual Basic

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Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. To use the following sample Visual Basic macro, you must set up a Microsoft Excel file as follows:

1. Create a new, blank Microsoft Excel workbook.
2. To insert a new Visual Basic module sheet, click the Insert menu, point to Macro, and then click Module.
   
   In Microsoft Excel 97 or Microsoft Excel 98, click the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor. On the Insert menu, click Module.
3. Type the following macro in the new module sheet:

         Sub String_Len()
             ' Sets MyString.
             MyString = InputBox("Enter some text.")
             ' Displays length of string.
             MsgBox Prompt:="The length of the string is " &_
                 Len(MyString) &" characters."
         End Sub
   
         Sub String_Left()
             ' Sets MyString.
             MyString = InputBox("Enter some text.")
             StringLen = Len(MyString)
             Pos = InputBox("Please enter a number from 1 to " & StringLen)
             ' Takes the left number of specified characters.
             Result = Left(MyString, Pos)
             ' Displays the result.
             MsgBox Prompt:="The left " & Pos & " characters of """ & _
                 MyString & """ are: " & _
                 Chr(13) & Result
         End Sub
   
         Sub String_Right()
             ' Sets MyString.
             MyString = InputBox("Enter some text.")
             StringLen = Len(MyString)
             Pos = InputBox("Please enter a number from 1 to " & StringLen)
             ' Takes the right number of specified digits.
             Result = Right(MyString, Pos)
             ' Displays the result.
             MsgBox Prompt:="The right " & Pos & " characters of """ & _
                 MyString & """ are: " & _
                 Chr(13) & Result
         End Sub
   
         Sub String_Mid()
             ' Sets MyString.
             MyString = InputBox("Enter some text.")
             ' Sets starting position.
             StartPos = InputBox _
                 ("Give me a starting position (1 to " _
                 & Len(MyString) & ")")
             ' Determines length of string of text.
             StringLen = Len(MyString) - StartPos + 1
             ' Sets number of characters.
             NumChars = InputBox _
                 ("How many characters would you like? (From 1 to " & _
                 StringLen & ")")
             MsgBox prompt:="The result is: " & _
                 Mid(MyString, StartPos, NumChars)
         End Sub
   						

To see an example of the Len function, click Macro on the Tools menu, select the String_Len macro, and then click Run. To see an example of the Left, Right and Mid functions, click Macro again and select String_Left, String_Right, and String_Mid respectively.

In Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98, click the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. Click the name of the macro you want to run, and then click Run.