Determine the type of data in a variable using the VarType function (VBScript 5.0)

In VBSscript, all variables are variant types. However, even though the browser doesn't care what you put in the container, your application might. You can easily determine what type of data you've placed in a variable using the VarType() function.

The VarType function takes a variable, evaluates its contents, and returns an integer value that identifies the variable's subtype. It's the perfect tool when you need to know precisely what's stored in a variable. For example, the IsNumeric function will tell you that num1 and num2 in the following code are numbers:

Dim num1: num1 = 6

Dim num2: num2 = 6e6

Response.write IsNumeric(num1) & "<br>"

Response.write IsNumeric(num2) & "<br>"

But, only the VarType() function can tell you that num1 is an Integer and num2 is a Double. When the browser executes the next two lines of code, it will display 2 for the VarType of num1 and 5 for the VarType of num2:

Response.write VarType(num1) & "<br>"

Response.write VarType(num2) & "<br>"

The table below shows what those (and other numbers the function might return) mean:

CONSTANT VALUE DESCRIPTION

=========================================

VBEmpty       0  Uninitialized

VBNull        1  Contains no valid data

VBInteger     2  Integer subtype

VBLong        3  Long subtype

VBSingle      4  Single subtype

VBDouble      5  Double subtype

VBCurrency    6  Currency subtype

VBDate        7  Date subtype

VBString      8  String subtype

VBObject      9  Object

VBError      10  Error subtype

VBBoolean    11  Boolean subtype

VBVariant    12  Variant (only for arrays) 

VBDataObject 13  Data access object

VBDecimal    14  Decimal subtype

VBByte       17  Byte subtype

VBArray    8192  Array