Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Creating a String in a Macro.

Creating a String in a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 22, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016


What do you do if you need a string of 80 equal signs or 25 spaces in your macro? Use the String function. This function is used to create strings of repeating characters. Consider the following examples:

sNew1 = String(25, 32)
sNew2 = String(25, " ")
sNew3 = String(80, "=")
sNew4 = String(20, "=*")

The first and second lines are functionally the same; they both produce a line of 25 spaces. In the first example, the ANSI value of 32 is used, which is the character code for a space. In the third line, sNew3 will be equal to 80 equal signs.

The fourth line produces a 20-character string of equal signs. This can be a bit frustrating to programmers familiar with other implementations of BASIC, as to them the last example should create a 40-character string of alternating equal signs and asterisks. (Under older versions of BASIC, the String function concatenates whatever you designate, so one could expect this to create a 40-character string made up of 20 iterations of "=*". Not so; VBA does not implement the String function as is done in other BASICs.)

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7801) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Creating a String in a Macro.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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