Val function

Returns the numbers contained in a string as a numeric value of appropriate type.

Syntax

Val( string )

The required stringargument is any valid string expression.

Remarks

The Val function stops reading the string at the first character it can't recognize as part of a number. Symbols and characters that are often considered parts of numeric values, such as dollar signs and commas, are not recognized. However, the function recognizes the radix prefixes &O (for octal) and &H (for hexadecimal). Blanks, tabs, and linefeed characters are stripped from the argument.

The following returns the value 1615198:

Val("    1615 198th Street N.E.")

In the code below, Val returns the decimal value -1 for the hexadecimal value shown:

Val("&HFFFF")

Note:  The Val function recognizes only the period (.) as a valid decimal separator. When different decimal separators are used, as in international applications, use CDbl instead to convert a string to a number.

Query example

Expression	Results
SELECT DateofSale,val(DateofSale) AS testVal FROM ProductSales;	Return the values from "DateofSale" and leading numeric characters from the values of field "DateofSale" in the column testVal. Val() will stop reading the string at the first non-numeric character.

VBA example

Note: Examples that follow demonstrate the use of this function in a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) module. For more information about working with VBA, select Developer Reference in the drop-down list next to Search and enter one or more terms in the search box.

This example uses the Val function to return the numbers contained in a string.

Dim MyValue
MyValue = Val("2457")    ' Returns 2457.
MyValue = Val(" 2 45 7")    ' Returns 2457.
MyValue = Val("24 and 57")    ' Returns 24.