What is the selection length in VBA?

In VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), the "selection length" refers to the number of characters that are currently selected in a text-based object, such as a text box, a cell in Excel, or a document in Word. This length is typically measured in characters, not bytes.

The selection length is a property that can be accessed and used to determine the extent of the user's selection. It's particularly useful when you need to perform actions based on the selected text, such as copying, deleting, or formatting.

Here's how you can access the selection length in different contexts:

1. In Microsoft Excel:

- When working with cells, you can use the Selection.Characters.Count property to get the length of the selected text within a cell. If multiple cells are selected, this will return the length of the text in the active cell.

- Example:

Sub GetSelectionLengthExcel()
  Dim selLength As Long
  selLength = Selection.Characters.Count
  MsgBox "The selection length is: " & selLength
End Sub

2. In Microsoft Word:

- In Word, you can use the Selection.Text property to get the selected text and then use the Len function to determine its length.

- Example:

Sub GetSelectionLengthWord()
  Dim selLength As Long
  selLength = Len(Selection.Text)
  MsgBox "The selection length is: " & selLength
End Sub

3. In Text Boxes (UserForms):

- For text boxes in UserForms, you can use the TextBox.SelLength property to get the length of the selected text.

- Example:

Sub GetSelectionLengthTextBox()
  Dim selLength As Long
  selLength = TextBox1.SelLength
  MsgBox "The selection length is: " & selLength
End Sub

Key Points:

- The selection length is always a non-negative integer. If no text is selected, the length will be 0.

- The selection length is different from the total length of the text in the object. It only refers to the length of the currently selected portion.

- The specific property or method to access the selection length may vary slightly depending on the object you are working with.

Understanding how to get the selection length in VBA is crucial for creating interactive and dynamic applications that respond to user selections.

Learn more about this