4 Easy Methods to Convert Numbers to Strings in Excel VBA

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In Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), converting numbers to strings is a common task when working with data. Whether you need to format numbers in a specific way, combine them with other text, or write numeric data to text files, knowing how to change numbers into string representations is an essential skill. In this article, we will explain the different methods to convert an Excel VBA number to string and provide examples of how to use them effectively in your own macros and programs.

Why Convert Numbers to Strings in VBA?

There are a few key reasons you may need to convert a number to a string in Excel VBA:

• To manipulate numbers as text – Sometimes you need to work with numbers as if they were plain text. Converting numbers to strings allows you to perform string operations like concatenation, extraction, searching, and more.
• To format numbers in specific ways – When numbers are converted to strings, you can apply custom formatting to control how they appear. This includes specifying decimal places, adding currency symbols, displaying percentages, and formatting numbers as dates or times.
• To concatenate numbers with other strings – If you want to join a number together with other text to build a string, you first need to convert the number to a string. Excel VBA can only concatenate strings with other strings, not with raw numbers.
• To write numbers to text files – When writing data to a text file using VBA, all values must be strings. Converting numbers to string representations ensures they are compatible with the file format.

When numbers are stored as strings in VBA, you can easily change their formatting, combine them with other string elements, and treat them like any other text values in your code.

Method 1: Use the Str() Function

The simplest way to convert a number to a string in Excel VBA is with the built-in Str() function. This function takes a numeric value as input and returns it as a string.

Syntax

The syntax for the Str() function is:

Str(Number)

Parameters

• Number – The numeric value you want to convert to a string.

Example

Here’s a simple example of how to use Str() in VBA code to convert a number to a string:

Dim myNumber As Double
Dim myString As String

myNumber = 123.45

myString = Str(myNumber)

MsgBox myString  ' Displays "123.45"

In this code:

1. First, we declare the variables myNumber as a Double and myString as a String
2. We assign the value 123.45 to myNumber
3. We use Str(myNumber) to convert the number 123.45 to a string equivalent and store the result in the myString variable
4. Finally, we display the string value of myString in a message box

It’s important to note that the Str() function always returns numbers formatted with a leading space character for positive values. If you don’t want this extra space, you can easily remove it using the Trim() function:

myString = Trim(Str(myNumber))

The Trim() function removes any leading or trailing spaces from the string, leaving you with just the numeric characters.

Method 2: Use the Format() Function

Another way to convert numbers to strings in Excel VBA is with the versatile Format() function. This function allows you to change a number into a string and apply custom formatting at the same time.

Syntax

The syntax for the Format() function is:

Format(Expression, Format)

Parameters

• Expression – The numeric expression or value you want to format as a string
• Format – A string expression specifying the format you want to apply to the number

Example

Here are a few examples of converting numbers to formatted strings using Format() in VBA:

Dim myNumber As Double
Dim myString As String

myNumber = 123.45

myString = Format(myNumber, "0.00")
' Returns "123.45" 

myString = Format(myNumber, "$#,##0.00")  
' Returns "$123.45"

myString = Format(myNumber, "0.00%")
' Returns "12345.00%"

The Format() function takes a format string as its second argument that specifies how the resulting string should look. This format string uses special characters and placeholders to define the formatting:

Some common format strings used with Format():

Using Format() to convert numbers to strings gives you great flexibility in how the final string appears. You can specify a fixed number of decimal places, include currency symbols, display values as percentages, format numbers as dates, and much more.

Method 3: Use the CStr() Function

A third option to convert a number to a string in Excel VBA is the CStr() function. CStr() is a more general VBA function that converts any valid expression to a String subtype.

Syntax

The syntax for the CStr() function is:

CStr(Expression)

Parameter

• Expression – Any valid VBA expression that evaluates to a value you want to convert to a String

Example

Converting a number to a string with CStr() works very similarly to the Str() function:

Dim myNumber As Double
Dim myString As String

myNumber = 123.45

myString = CStr(myNumber)

MsgBox myString  ' Displays "123.45"

The main advantage of CStr() is that it can convert many different data types to strings, not just numbers. You can pass dates, Booleans, arrays, and other expressions to CStr() and it will return a string representation.

Method 4: Concatenate with an Empty String

One quick trick to convert a number to a string in Excel VBA is to simply concatenate it with an empty string literal. Joining the number together with “” effectively forces VBA to coerce the number into a String data type in order to perform the concatenation.

Example

Here’s how you can convert a number to a string in VBA by concatenating it with an empty string:

Dim myNumber As Integer
Dim myString As String

myNumber = 123

myString = myNumber & ""

MsgBox myString  ' Displays "123"

When VBA encounters the myNumber & "" expression, it sees that you are trying to concatenate a number with a string. Since concatenation is a string operation, VBA will implicitly convert myNumber to a string before joining it with the empty string ("").

Concatenating numbers with "" is a quick and easy way to coerce them into strings without needing to call a conversion function like Str() or CStr(). However, this method doesn’t give you any control over the formatting of the resulting string.

Potential Issues When Converting Numbers to Strings

While converting numbers to strings in Excel VBA is generally a straightforward task, there are a couple potential issues you may encounter.

Floating point precision

When converting floating point numbers (like Single or Double types) to strings, you may sometimes see more decimal places than you expected. This happens because floating point numbers are stored internally in binary format, which cannot represent certain decimal fractions exactly.

For example:

Dim myNumber As Double
Dim myString As String

myNumber = 0.9

myString = Str(myNumber)
' myString = " .9"

Even though we assigned 0.9 to myNumber, the string output shows .9 instead, with the leading 0 missing.

To avoid precision issues when converting floats to strings, it’s best to explicitly define the string formatting using the Format() function. This ensures the output string will show exactly the number of decimal places you want, even if the internal binary representation is slightly different.

myString = Format(myNumber, "0.0")
' myString = "0.9"

Regional settings

Another thing to watch out for when formatting numbers as strings in Excel VBA is differences in regional settings. Excel will use the default decimal and thousands separators specified in your Windows regional settings when converting numbers to strings.

For example, using the "$#,##0.00" format string in VBA will display the thousands separator as a comma and the decimal separator as a dot on a computer with US regional settings. However, on a computer with German regional settings, the same format code would use a dot for the thousands separator and a comma for the decimal separator.

If you need to ensure the number formatting is consistent regardless of the user’s locale, you can build a custom format string using Excel’s Application.ThousandsSeparator and Application.DecimalSeparator properties:

myString = Format(myNumber, "$#" & Application.ThousandsSeparator & "##0" & Application.DecimalSeparator & "00")

This code snippet dynamically builds the correct "$#,##0.00" format string for the current regional settings, using the proper characters for the thousands and decimal separators.

Summary

To recap, there are four main ways to convert numbers to strings in Excel VBA:

1. The Str() function – A basic function that converts a number to its string representation
2. The Format() function – Converts a number to a formatted string with custom formatting options
3. The CStr() function – A general purpose function that converts any expression to a String subtype
4. Concatenating with an empty string ("") – A quick and dirty trick to convert a number to a string using the string concatenation operator (&)

Each of these methods has its own strengths and use cases:

• Use Str() when you just need a quick and simple conversion from number to string
• Use Format() when you want to apply specific formatting to the number during the conversion
• Use CStr() when you are working with other data types besides numbers that also need to be converted to strings
• Use concatenation with "" when you need a fast conversion without any bells and whistles

I hope this in-depth guide helps you understand the various ways to convert numbers into strings using VBA in Excel. Experiment with the different techniques and see which one works best for your particular scenario. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Vaishvi Desai

Vaishvi Desai is the founder of Excelsamurai and a passionate Excel enthusiast with years of experience in data analysis and spreadsheet management. With a mission to help others harness the power of Excel, Vaishvi shares her expertise through concise, easy-to-follow tutorials on shortcuts, formulas, Pivot Tables, and VBA.