The '''VAL''' Function returns the decimal numerical equivalent value of a [[STRING]] numerical value.


{{PageSyntax}}
:: value = VAL(string_value$)


* VAL converts string numbers to numerical values including decimal point values and prefixed "[[&amp;H]]" hexadecimal, "[[&amp;O]]" octal. 
* VAL conversion stops at non-numeric characters except for letter "D" or "E" exponential notation values.
:String values with "D" and "E" letters between numbers may be converted also! EX: '''{{text|VAL("9D4") &lt;nowiki>=&lt;/nowiki> 90000|green}}'''
* If the first string character is not a number VAL returns 0. VAL may return erratic values with "%" or "&amp;" starting characters. 
* Hexadecimal [[HEX$]] string values with the "[[&amp;H]]" prefix can be converted to a decimal value with digits 0 to 9 and letters A to F, like; dec = VAL("&amp;H"+hexvar$). 
* Octal [[OCT$]] string values with the "[[&amp;O]]" prefix can be converted to a decimal value with digits from 0 to 7 only.
* Presently VAL '''cannot''' convert QB64 binary [[&amp;B]] prefixed strings from binary to decimal in '''QB64'''.
* For character values of [[ASCII]] data use [[ASC]] to get the value. 
* In QB64 use an [[INTEGER]] return variable to hold integer values  returned by VAL [[HEX$|Hex]] strings: '''{{text|value% &lt;nowiki>= VAL("&amp;HFFFF") =&lt;/nowiki> -1|green}}'''


''Example 1:'' Differences in values returned with QBasic and QB64:
{{CodeStart}} '' ''
{{Cl|PRINT}} {{Cl|VAL}}("{{Cl|&amp;H}}") '203 in QB, 0 in QB64
{{Cl|PRINT}} {{Cl|VAL}}("{{Cl|&amp;H}}FFFF") ' -1 QB, 65535 in QB64
{{Cl|PRINT}} {{Cl|VAL}}("{{Cl|&amp;H}}FFFF&amp;") '65535 in both '' ''
{{CodeEnd}}
:''Explanation:'' A quirk in QBasic returned VAL values of 203 for "&amp;" and "&amp;H" that was never fixed until PDS(7.1).


''Example 2:'' Converting a string with some number characters
{{CodeStart}} '' ''
 text$ = "1.23Hello"
 number! = VAL(text$)
 PRINT number! '' ''
{{CodeEnd}}
{{OutputStart}}
1.23
{{OutputEnd}}


''Example 3:'' Converting literal and variable [[STRING|string]] values to numerical values.
{{CodeStart}} '' ''
 a$ = "33"
 PRINT VAL("10") + VAL(a$) + 1 '' ''
{{CodeEnd}}
{{OutputStart}}
44
{{OutputEnd}}
:''Explanation:'' 10 + 33 + 1 = 44, the strings were converted to values.

:You have to convert the string to values in order to use them in a mathematical expression also since mixing strings with numbers isn't allowed. VAL will stop at a text letter so VAL("123G56) would return 123.

:If VAL wasn't used the program would break with an error, as you can't add the value 1 to a string, if the 1 was a string ("1") then the program would return "10331", but now since we used VAL, the numbers were added as they should.


''Example 4:'' Converting a hexadecimal value to decimal value using HEX$ with VAL.
{{CodeStart}}
 decnumber% = 96
 hexnumber$ = "&amp;H" + {{Cl|HEX$}}(decnumber%)  'convert decimal value to hex and add hex prefix
 PRINT hexnumber$
 decimal% = {{Cl|VAL}}(hexnumber$)
 PRINT decimal% '' ''
{{CodeEnd}}
{{OutputStart}}
&amp;H60
 96
{{OutputEnd}}
: ''Explanation:'' [[HEX$]] converts a decimal number to hexadecimal, but [[VAL]] will only recognize it as a valid value with the "&amp;H" prefix. Especially since hexadecimal numbers can use "A" through "F" in them. Create a converter function from this code!


''See also:'' 
* [[STR$]], [[HEX$]]
* [[OCT$]], [[ASC]]


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