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Visual Basic (VB) Variant Data Type
The variant data type can be used to define variables that contain any type of data. A tag is stored with the variant data to identify the type of data that it currently contains. You can examine the tag by using the VarType function. A variant can contain a value of any of the types listed in Table 4.
Table 4. Variant Value Types
|
|
|
0 (Empty) |
0 |
N/A |
1 Null |
0 |
N/A |
2 Integer |
2 bytes (short) |
-32768 to 32767 |
3 Long |
4 bytes (long) |
-2.147E9 to 2.147E9 |
4 Single |
4 bytes (float) |
-3.402E38 to -1.401E-45 (negative) 1.401E-45 to 3.402E38 (positive) |
5 Double |
8 bytes (double) |
-1.797E308 to -4.94E-324 (negative) 4.94E-324 to 1.797E308 (positive) |
6 Currency |
8 bytes (fixed) |
-9.223E14 to 9.223E14 |
7 Date |
8 bytes (double) |
Jan 1st, 100 to Dec 31st, 9999 |
8 String |
up to 2GB |
Length is limited by the amount of random access memory, up to 2 GB |
9 Object |
N/A |
N/A |
A newly defined Variant defaults to being of Empty type to signify that it contains no initialized data. An Empty Variant is converted to zero when used in a numeric expression, or to an empty string when used in a string expression. To test whether a variant is uninitialized (empty), use the IsEmpty function. Null variants have no associated data and serve only to represent invalid or ambiguous results. You can test whether a variant contains a null value with the IsNull function. Null is not the same as Empty, which indicates that a variant has not yet been initialized.
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