vba: what does $ do?

Question

for example:

variable1=Dir$(some_path)

vs.

variable1=Dir(some_path)

what is the difference?

why not just do:

variable1=string(Dir(some_path))

Answer 1

Hi there.

I think that the $ version returns a String, and the non $ version returns a variant.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/519579/mid-vs-mid

http://forums.devarticles.com/microsoft-access-development-49/mid-function-vs-mid-26315.html

Cheers. Jas.

Answer 2

The dollar sign indicates a string will be returned instead of a variant.

Answer 3

Dir() returns the result as the variant data type. Dir$() returns the result as the string data type.

Answer 4

some uses $ version for its purported efficiency(as it accepts and outputs statically-typed variables only). I don't know how much is the speed difference between statically-typed and variant type, just benchmark