Returns the length of a variable or data type
Syntax
Usage
result = Len( variable )
or
result = Len( DataType )
Parameters
variable
A variable of any type.
datatype
Return Value
Returns the size of a variable or
DataType in bytes.
Description
Len returns the length of a variable or
DataType, in bytes.
In the first form, if
variable is of type
String,
WString or
ZString, the length of the string in characters will be returned. Otherwise, the size of
variable's type in bytes is returned.
In the second form, if
datatype is
ZString or
WString, the size of an ASCII or Unicode character is returned, respectively. If
datatype is
String, the size of the string descriptor type is returned.
If there is both a user defined type and a variable both having the same name in the same scope, the user defined type takes precedence over the variable. To ensure that the
Len takes the variable instead of the user defined type, wrap the argument to
Len with parentheses to force it to be seen as an expression. For example
Len((variable)).
Example
Print Len("hello world") 'returns "11"
Print Len(Integer) ' returns 4
Type xyz
a As Integer
b As Integer
End Type
Print Len(xyz) ' returns 8
Dialect Differences
- Len only allows expressions in the -lang qb dialect.
- Can be used with built-in types and user-defined types in the -lang fb and -lang fblite dialects.
Differences from QB
See also