DefBool, DefByte, DefInt, DefLng, DefLngLng, DefLngPtr, DefCur, DefSng, DefDbl, DefDec, DefDate, DefStr, DefObj, DefVar

Used at the module level to set the default data type for variables, arguments passed to procedures, and the return type for Function and Property Get procedures whose names start with the specified characters.

Warning

The Deftype family of statements is deprecated. They are supported for compatibility with legacy code, but new code should declare every variable, argument, and return type explicitly with As type. Combined with Option Explicit, explicit declarations make code far easier to read and maintain.

Syntax:

  • DefBool letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefByte letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefInt letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefLng letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefLngLng letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefLngPtr letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefCur letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefSng letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefDbl letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefDec letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefDate letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefStr letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefObj letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

  • DefVar letterrange [ , letterrange ] . . .

letterrange
A single letter, or a hyphenated range letter1-letter2. The letters specify the leading character of names that adopt the default type. Case is not significant.

The statement name determines the data type:

Statement Data type
DefBool Boolean
DefByte Byte
DefInt Integer
DefLng Long
DefLngLng LongLong
DefLngPtr LongPtr
DefCur Currency
DefSng Single
DefDbl Double
DefDec Decimal
DefDate Date
DefStr String
DefObj Object
DefVar Variant

For example, in the following fragment, Message is a String variable:

DefStr A-Q
. . .
Message = "Out of stack space."

A Deftype statement affects only the module where it is used. The default data type for variables, arguments, and return types of items not declared explicitly and not covered by a Deftype statement is Variant.

A letter range usually defines the data type for variables that begin with letters in the first 128 characters of the character set. However, the range A-Z sets the default to the specified data type for all names, including those starting with characters from the extended part of the character set (128-255).

After the range A-Z has been specified, subranges cannot be further redefined by using Deftype statements. Once a range has been specified, including a previously defined letter in another Deftype statement is an error. The data type of any variable — defined or not — can still be explicitly specified by using a Dim statement with an As type clause:

DefInt A-Z
Dim TaxRate As Double   ' explicit declaration overrides the default

Deftype statements don’t affect elements of user-defined types — those must be explicitly declared.

See Also