Standard Types in Visual Basic

The following classifications list different standard types in Visual Basic grouped by categories. Each type allocates different size of memory storage. Some of the types have declaration character which can be used to explicitly define the type of the variable in a short form. Most of the types provide specific function to convert the value from a variant.

Numeric

Numeric type variables are used to hold positive and negative integer values (without the decimal point), e.g. 1, 2, 10, -10, -1000 etc. Different numeric types allow storing different value ranges and requires different size of the allocated storage. The most commonly used type is Integer.

If the assigned value doesn't fit the range Run-time error '6' overflow will be displayed at the compile time.

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Byte

Allocates 1 byte of storage. Value ranges from 0 through 255. The function of converting to Byte is CByte.

Integer

Allocates 2 bytes of storage. Value ranges from –32,768 through 32,767. The type declaration character for integer is %. The function of converting to Integer is CInt.

Long

Allocates 4 bytes of storage. Value ranges from –2,147,483,648 through 2,147,486,647. The type declaration character for long is &. The function of converting to Long is CLng

LongLong

Allocates 8 bytes of storage. Value ranges from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 through 9,223,372,036,854,775,807. Type declaration character for LongLong is ^. LongLong is a valid declared type only on 64-bit platforms.

LongPtr

Represents Long type (4 bytes) on 32-bit systems and LongLong type (8 bytes) on 64-bit systems.

LongPtr usually used for writing portable code that can run in both 32-bit and 64-bit environments. In particular this is used in Windows 32 APIs for pointers and handles.

Numeric with decimal point

These types of variables are used to hold positive and negative numeric values with decimal points, i.e. 20.5, -152.89 etc. Different type of variables allow to store different value ranges with different precisions. The most commonly used type is Double. For high precision numbers either Currency or Decimal types can be used.

Single

Allocates 4 bytes of storage. Value ranges from –3.402823E38 through –1.401298E–45 or 1.401298E–45 through 3.402823E38. The type declaration character for single is !. The function of converting to Single is CSng

Double

Allocates 8 bytes of storage. Value ranges from –1.79769313486232E308 through –4.94065645841247E–324 or 1.79769313486232E308 through 4.94065645841247E–324. The type declaration character for double is #. The function of converting to Single is CDbl

Currency

Allocates 8 bytes of storage. Value ranges from –922,337,203,477.5808 through 922,337,203,685,477.5807. The type declaration character for integer is @. The function of converting to Currency is CCur

Decimal

Allocates 14 bytes of storage. Value ranges from -79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 through 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 or –7.2998162514264337593543950335 through 7.9228162514264337593543950335. The function of converting to Decimal is CDec. Note that variable of type Decimal must be declared as Variant and assigned using CDec function.

Logical

Logical variables are used in conditions and presented as 1 (True) or 0 (False)

Boolean

Allocates 2 bytes of storage. Either True or False. The function of converting to Boolean is CBool

Text

Text variables are holding literals and when defined are enclosed in double quotes "".

String

Allocates 10 bytes plus the number of characters of storage. Value ranges from 0 through 2 billion characters. The function of converting to String is CStr

Date and Time

Variable holding the information about date and time.

Date

Allocates 8 bytes of storage. Value ranges from January 1, 100 to December 31, 9999. The function of converting to String is CDate

Reference

These variables are any reference types which might hold complex data and structures.

Object

Allocates 4 bytes of storage. Used in [Late Binding](/docs/codestack/visual-basic/variables/declaration#early-binding-and-late- binding)

Any

These variable types can hold any data object (either value type, reference type or arrays)

Variant

Allocates 16 bytes of storage. The function of converting to Variant is CVar

The code example below demonstrates declaration and conversion of various standard data types.

Sub main()
    
    Dim byteVar As Byte
    byteVar = 17
    byteVar = CByte("12") 'converting from text value to byte
    byteVar = CByte(15.6) 'floating number is not acceptable so the value will be rounded to 16
    
    Dim intVar As Integer
    intVar = 12567
    intVar = CInt("124")
    
    Dim longVar As Long
    longVar = 1256936
    longVar = CLng("-124")
    longVar = 123&
    
    Dim longLongVar As LongLong '64 bit only
    longLongVar = 103456
    longLongVar = 7392984646^
    
    Dim longPtrVar As LongPtr
    longPtrVar = 94874882
    
    Dim singleVar As Single
    singleVar = 3.4E+38 '3.4 * 10^38
    singleVar = CSng("15.656")
    singleVar = 12345.35!
    
    Dim doubleVar As Double
    doubleVar = 3.4E+100
    doubleVar = CDbl("106.278856") 'holds more precise value with more floating digits
    doubleVar = 12345# 'force integer value to be converted to double
    
    Dim currVal As Currency
    currVal = 3105.6
    currVal = CCur("31,256,78")
    currVal = 689.3458@
    
    Dim decVal As Variant
    decVal = CDec(1E-18)
    
    Dim boolVar As Boolean
    boolVar = True
    boolVar = CBool(1) 'converted to true
    
    Dim strVar As String
    strVar = "Hello World"
    strVar = CStr(125) 'number converted to string
    
    Dim dateVar As Date
    dateVar = Now() 'assigns current date
    dateVar = CDate("10-Jun-2018")
    
    Dim objVar As Object
    Set objVar = Nothing
    
    Dim varVar As Variant
    varVar = Array("A", "B", "C")
    varVar = "Hello World"
    varVar = CVar(10.5)
    
End Sub