String
Standard data type: 8 bit character string
Syntax
`
Dim variable As String [ * size]
`
Description
A `String` is an array of characters.
A `String` declared without the `size` parameter is dynamically resized depending on the length of the string. The length can range from 0 bytes to 2 gigabytes. A descriptor contains a pointer to the actual string, the length of the string, and the amount of space allocated for it. `VarPtr` will return a pointer to the descriptor, while `StrPtr` will point to the actual string.
Because of the hidden descriptor with a `String`, manual allocation of space, for example using the memory allocation function `CAllocate` (preferentially), for a `String` is not encouraged. The common way to ensure a certain amount of space is reserved for a `String`, to prevent unnecessary allocations inside a loop for instance, is to use the `Space` or `String` functions.
Nevertheless if necessary, dynamic allocation may be carefully used by means of the memory allocation functions `Allocate`, `CAllocate`, `Reallocate` (see precautions for use) and string pointer (which is a pointer to a string descriptor, not string data). When memory is allocated to hold string descriptors, the string must always be destroyed (setting to `"``"`) before deallocate each string descriptor (allowing to deallocate the memory taken up by the string data), otherwise, it is not possible to deallocate it later, and it may induce memory leak in the program continuation.
Despite the use of the descriptor, an implicit `NULL` character (`Chr(0)`) is added to the end of the string, to allow passing them to functions in external libraries without making slow copies. FreeBASIC's internal functions will ignore this character, and not treat it as part of the string.
A `String` declared with a `fixed size` is a QB-style fixed length string, with the exception that unused characters are set to 0, regardless of what "-lang" compiler option is used. It has no descriptor and it is not resized to fit its contents. As in QB, if data overflows the size of the string, it is truncated on the right side.
Fixed length strings are also terminated with a `NULL` character, and so they use `size + 1` bytes of space. This `NULL` terminator may be removed in future, to prevent the redundant character complicating data layout in user-defined `Type`s.
String variable names need not end in a dollar sign `$` as in other dialects of BASIC. In lang fb variable suffixes, including the dollar sign, are disallowed entirely.
Note: When passing `String`s as parameters to `Procedures`, they should always be passed by reference (`ByRef`). Currently, `ByVal` does not pass a copy of the string, but a `Pointer` to the string data. This can cause unexpected behavior including `String` corruption. If you wish to prevent the value of the `String` from being modified you should add the `Const Qualifier` to the relevant parameter.
Example
`
'' Compile with -lang fblite or qb
#lang "fblite"
'' Variable-length
Dim a As String
a = "Hello"
'' Or
Dim b$
b$ = "World"
''Reserving space for a string
Var mybigstring = Space(1024)
''Explicitly destroying a string
mybigstring = ""
''Const qualifier preventing string from being modified
Sub silly_print( ByRef printme As Const String )
Print ".o0( " & printme & " )0o."
'next line will cause error if uncommented
'printme = "silly printed"
End Sub
silly_print( "Hello FreeBASIC!" )
'' Fixed-length
Dim c As String * 32
c = "Hello World"
`
Differences from QB

- In QB the strings were limited to 32767 characters.
- In QB, the unused characters of a fixed-length string were initialized with 32 (space, or " ", in ASCII).
- In QB static or fixed-size strings were often used in records to represent a number of bytes of data; for example, a string of 1 length to represent 1 byte in a UDT read from a file. This is not possible in FreeBASIC since strings always have an `NULL` character following. When converting QBasic code that reads UDTs from files, make sure all instances of "`As String * n`" are replaced with "`As uByte (0 to n - 1)`" or your files will be incompatible.

See also

- `String (Function)`
- `Space`
- `ZString`
- `WString`
- `Str`
- `StrPtr`
- `VarPtr`