VBScript strings

A String is a grouping of characters sorrounded by double quotes such as "this is a string". With VBScript, you can manipulate strings in several ways such as joining two or more strings, printing the length of a string, and more.

This lesson focuses on:

Creating a String
Printing Strings
Joining Strings
String functions

Creating a String

A String can be created by sorrounding text in double quotes and assigning it to a variable.

Example:

<script type="text/vbscript">
Dim aString 
aString= "This is a string."
</script>

Printing Strings

A String can be printed by referencing the variable that stores the String by name.

Example:

<script type="text/vbscript">
Dim aString 
aString= "This is a string."

document.write(aString)
</script>

Output:

This is a string.

Joining Strings

You can join strings using the "&" (ampersand) operator. By joining strings, you can combine several strings into one or print several strings together at the same time.

Example:

<script type="text/vbscript">
Dim stringOne, stringTwo, statement, color

stringOne = "Here is "
stringTwo = "some text"
statement = "My favorite color is "
color = "green"

'join the statement and color strings into one
'and add another string to this string which is 
'the period character
statement = statement & color & "."

'print stringOne and stringTwo together
document.write(stringOne & stringTwo)

'print a line break and the value of the statement variable
document.write("<br />" & statement)
</script>

Output:

Here is some text
My favorite color is green.

String functions

VBScript provides various functions used for working with strings.

len()
The len() function is used to return the length() of a string.
mid()
The mid() function returns a specified number of characters from a string. This function takes three parameters - the name of the string to extract characters from, the point in the string where to start extracting characters from, and the number of characters to extract.
ltrim()
The ltrim() function removes spaces from the left side of a string.
ucase()
The ucase() function converts a string into all uppercase letters.

Example:

<html>
<head>
<title>String functions</title>
</head>
<body>
<script type="text/vbscript">
Dim aString, anotherString

aString = "VBScript is a scripting language."
anotherString = "    There are five spaces at the beginning 
                     of this string."

document.write("Length of the aString string: " 
& len(aString))

document.write("<br /><br />The first five characters from 
the aString string:" & Mid(aString,1,5))

document.write("<br /><br />The anotherString string without 
spaces at the beginning of it: " & ltrim(anotherString))

document.write("<br /><br />The anotherString in all 
uppercase letters: " & UCase(anotherString))
</script>
</body>
</html>

Output:

Length of the aString string: 33

The first five characters from the aString string:VBScr

The anotherString string without spaces at the beginning of it: There are five spaces at the beginning of this string.

The anotherString in all uppercase letters: THERE ARE FIVE SPACES AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS STRING.