Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Quickly Clearing Array Contents.

Quickly Clearing Array Contents

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 22, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


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If you have done any programming in VBA, you know the value of using variable arrays to store information. It is not uncommon to start working with large arrays in your macros. For instance, you might declare a 100-element string array, as follows:

Dim MyText(99) As String

As your macro executes, information can be stored and restored in the elements of the array. At some time, you may want to erase all the information in the array. One classic way of doing this is using a For ... Next loop to step through each array element, as follows:

For J = 0 To 99
    MyText(J) = ""
Next J

When the looping is complete, everything has been erased from the array. A quicker way of accomplishing the same task is to use the ERASE function, as follows:

Erase MyText

Once executed, this single line sets each element of the MyText array back to an empty string. If the array is numeric, then each element of the array is set to zero.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (676) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Quickly Clearing Array Contents.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is 0 + 7?

2021-01-04 14:41:14

Nickie Geldenhuys

Is it possible to create a macro that will do several processes, like "find all sentences beginning with 'And' eliminate that unnecessary conjunction then capitalize the next word, regardless of what that word will be?


2019-08-16 01:05:37

Muhammad Ashfaq

Sir, i want to use thousand separator e.g. 10000000 wants write as 1,00,00,000. thanks while using mail merge tool


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