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How to: Convert a String to an Array of Characters in Visual Basic

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Sometimes it is useful to have data about the characters in your string and the positions of those characters within your string, such as when you are parsing a string. This example shows how you can get an array of the characters in a string by calling the string's ToCharArray method.

Example 1

This example demonstrates how to split a string into a Char array, and how to split a string into a String array of its Unicode text characters. The reason for this distinction is that Unicode text characters can be composed of two or more Char characters (such as a surrogate pair or a combining character sequence). For more information, see TextElementEnumerator and The Unicode Standard.

Dim testString1 As String = "ABC"
' Create an array containing "A", "B", and "C".
Dim charArray() As Char = testString1.ToCharArray

Example 2

It is more difficult to split a string into its Unicode text characters, but this is necessary if you need information about the visual representation of a string. This example uses the SubstringByTextElements method to get information about the Unicode text characters that make up a string.

' This string is made up of a surrogate pair (high surrogate
' U+D800 and low surrogate U+DC00) and a combining character 
' sequence (the letter "a" with the combining grave accent).
Dim testString2 As String = ChrW(&HD800) & ChrW(&HDC00) & "a" & ChrW(&H300)

' Create and initialize a StringInfo object for the string.
Dim si As New System.Globalization.StringInfo(testString2)

' Create and populate the array.
Dim unicodeTestArray(si.LengthInTextElements - 1) As String
For i As Integer = 0 To si.LengthInTextElements - 1
    unicodeTestArray(i) = si.SubstringByTextElements(i, 1)
Next

See also