Visual Basic 6 (VB6)

Written By TheVBProgramer.

$ReqTestHarness$

Hex and Octal Numeric Literals

&H before a number means that the number is specified in hex:

Example:

Const lngHexNum As Long = &H2AF

Print lngHexNum

Output:

687

&O before a number means that the number is specified in octal:

Example:

Const lngOctNum As Long = &O1163

Print lngOctNum

Output:

627

Converting a Hex or Octal Number to Decimal

To convert a hexadecimal or octal number to a decimal value, you must treat the hex or octal value as a string, append "&H" or "&O" in front of the value, and use a conversion function such as Val or CLng to convert the string to a numeric value.

Example:

Dim strMyHexNum As String

Dim lngDecimalValue As Long

strMyHexNum = InputBox("Enter a Hex Value:")

strMyHexNum = "&H" & strMyHexNum

lngDecimalValue = Val(strMyHexNum)

PRINT strMyHexNum; " in hex is equivalent to "; lngDecimalValue; " in decimal."

If the user entered "2AF" as input, the result would be:

2AF in hex is equivalent to 687 in decimal.

The following "Try It" code illustrates the concepts presented above:

Private Sub cmdTryIt_Click()

Const lngDECIMAL_NUMBER_1 As Long = 687

Const lngDECIMAL_NUMBER_2 As Long = 627

Const lngHEXADECIMAL_NUMBER As Long = &H2AF

Const lngOCTAL_NUMBER As Long = &O1163

Const strHEX_STRING As String = "BEEF"

Const strOCT_STRING As String = "411"

Dim strHexVal As String

Dim strOctVal As String

Dim lngDecVal As Long

strHexVal = Hex$(lngDECIMAL_NUMBER_1)

Print "The decimal number "; lngDECIMAL_NUMBER_1; " is "; strHexVal; " in hex."

strOctVal = Oct$(lngDECIMAL_NUMBER_2)

Print "The decimal number "; lngDECIMAL_NUMBER_2; " is "; strOctVal; " in octal."

Print "The Long Constant specified as '&H2AF' evaluates to: "; lngHEXADECIMAL_NUMBER

Print "The Long Constant specified as '&O1163' evaluates to: "; lngOCTAL_NUMBER

lngDecVal = CLng("&H" & strHEX_STRING)

Print strHEX_STRING; " in hex is equivalent to "; lngDecVal; " in decimal."

lngDecVal = CLng("&O" & strOCT_STRING)

Print strOCT_STRING; " in octal is equivalent to "; lngDecVal; " in decimal."

End Sub

Output:

Download the VB project code for the example above here.