Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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.
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.)
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7801) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Creating a String in a Macro.
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2015-10-27 00:11:53
David Richardson
@PhilP putting the single quote before the equal sign only produces a string of 80 single quotes.
Aldo's solution applied to sNew3 works as follows:
sNew3 = "'" & String(80,"=")
2013-08-12 11:59:38
Have you tried using =REPT() function.
=REPT("=",80) in a cell will give you ================================================================================ in the cell without an error raised.
sNew4 = "'" & String(80, 61) give you the same result in VBA. The "'" is needed because Excel sees = as a start of a function.
You can change the cell format to TEXT and illiminate the need for "'" altogether.
2013-07-26 14:07:19
awyatt
The last two only return errors if you try to place the contents of the variables (sNew3 and sNew4) into a cell in a worksheet. That is because Excel's formula parsing is only done when values are entered in a worksheet.
If you are using the VBA String function to create a string (as done in this tip) and want to stuff that string into a cell, then you'll need to do as PhilP suggests: put an apostrophe at the beginning of the string.
-Allen
2013-07-26 13:33:31
PhilP
@David
As you say the last two return errors. The way around this to include a single quote at the beginning of the string after the first double quote, for example:
sNew3 = String(80, "'=")
This makes sure that Excel knows all of the string is text
2013-07-26 05:55:47
Rudra Sharma
Thanks for letting me know this.
2013-07-25 19:37:07
David Richardson
I tried out the examples, but the last two return errors. I think that since Excel uses the = to signify a formula that is the cause. (even the ASCII code failed)
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: 
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