What is str value in this simple code?

[immigrated4urjob]

I am trying to understand what is the value of str especially when no initial state has been set.

When I analyse in immediate window it shows the first value as str ="word|" and cell = "word"; but without setting str var first, how is this even possible?

Dim str As String
Dim arr() As String


If Not Range("A2:A5") Is Nothing Then 'need to change range object later
     For Each cell In Range("A2:A5")
          If (cell <> "") And (InStr(str, cell) = 0) Then 'what is the value of str here?
               str = str & cell & "|"
          End If
     Next cell
End If

If Len(str) > 0 Then str = Left(str, Len(str) - 1)

arr = Split(str, "|")

Me.FANumbers.List = arr 'populate listbox

[AB33]

What is str? Where did you assign a value for it? As it is, it is empty

Returns a Variant (Long) specifying the position of the first occurrence of one string within another

Syntax

InStr([ start ], string1, string2, [ compare ])

The InStr function syntax has these arguments:
Part Description
start Optional. Numeric expression that sets the starting position for each search. If omitted, search begins at the first character position. If start contains Null, an error occurs. The start argument is required if compare is specified.
string1 Required. String expression being searched.
string2 Required. String expression sought.
compare Optional. Specifies the type of string comparison. If compare is Null, an error occurs. If compare is omitted, the Option Compare setting determines the type of comparison. Specify a valid LCID (LocaleID) to use locale-specific rules in the comparison.

[XLent]

str is being used to generate a unique set of cell values

with each cell being iterated - if the cell value is not found in the str variable (Instr = 0) the cell value is appended to str such that if found again it is ignored.

the final Split takes the resulting concatenation (of unique values) and splits them back out into unique items (c/o the pipe delimiter)

you will often see people use the Dictionary Object to do the same thing...

[romperstomper]

When I analyse in immediate window it shows the first value as str ="word|" and cell = "word"; but without setting str var first, how is this even possible?

It isn’t. Until the str = str & cell & “|” line has been executed, str is an empty string.