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Asked: 2026-05-11T03:11:45+00:00

According to the documentation in VB6 the Mid() function returns a variant, but Mid$()

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According to the documentation in VB6 the Mid() function returns a variant, but Mid$() returns a string and apparently this is more efficient.

My questions are :

  1. What simple test can I use to discern the difference in performance ? I tried monitoring a simple app performing a few string operations with Perfmon, but there was no discernible difference.

  2. Is it worth worrying about? I’ve gotten into the habit of using the $-ized functions, but should I recommend everybody on my team to use it as well?

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  1. Isn’t worth worrying about. It’s a remnant from Microsoft Basic of 15-20 years ago when a fast processor was orders of magnitude slower than anything today.

    It has a certain esthetic appeal to use Mid$ rather than let VB determine what your datatypes are, though. And if you have any loops that are executing it, say, thousands of tiems a second, then your curiosity factor might increase. Otherwise, neh.

    Here’s a link to someone who measured the difference. Mid$ was about 2.5 times as fast as Mid. Including tests going back to VB4.

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