[AccessD] Format or Format$ (was: Filtering with International Dates)

Hi Stuart

Well, thanks! That's the first time ever I heard and got demonstrated a decent explanation on this$.

/gustav


>>> stuart at lexacorp.com.pg 26-09-2011 03:41 >>>
Format returns a Variant of type String.
Format$ returns an actual string.

Similarly with Left,Right,Mid,Trim etc

Theoretically, using the native types rather than variants should be more efficient. Wait a 
minute....

Yep - that's true in practice as well:

<code>
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit

Const gc_testcases As Long = 10000000

Function TestVar() As String
Dim str As String
Dim strResult As String
Dim t As Single
Dim x As Long
t = Timer
For x = 1 To gc_testcases
  str = Left("abcdef", 3)
Next
t = Timer - t
strResult = "Variant form took " & t & " seconds" & vbCrLf
t = Timer
For x = 1 To gc_testcases
  str = Left$("abcdef", 3)
Next
t = Timer - t
TestVar = strResult & "String form took " & t & " seconds"
End Function
</code>

The Variant form consistently takes 2.5 times as long as the String version.

-- 
Stuart

On 26 Sep 2011 at 10:54, Darryl Collins wrote:

> Yeah, that was my understanding of it.  The "$" is short hand for
> String.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com 
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav
> Brock Sent: Friday, 23 September 2011 10:59 PM To:
> accessd at databaseadvisors.com Subject: Re: [AccessD] Filtering with
> International Dates
> 
> Hi Rocky
> 
> Yes, that will work. It will return #09/23/2011# for today.
> 
> I've never noticed any difference between Format and Format$ (and all
> the other old BASIC string handling functions with or without a
> trailing $). SomeFunction$ is claimed to always return a string, but
> I've never found, say, Trim to return anything else than a string.
> Maybe it is just to be compatible with old QBasic or similar.
> 
> /gustav