Keywords (Visual Basic)

The following tables list all Visual Basic language keywords.

Reserved Keywords

The following keywords are reserved, which means that you cannot use them as names for programming elements such as variables or procedures. You can bypass this restriction by enclosing the name in brackets ([ ]). For more information, see "Escaped Names" in Declared Element Names (Visual Basic).

Note

We do not recommend that you use escaped names, because it can make your code hard to read, and it can lead to subtle errors that can be difficult to find.

AddHandler	AddressOf	Alias	And
AndAlso	As	Boolean	ByRef
Byte	ByVal	Call	Case
Catch	CBool	CByte	CChar
CDate	CDbl	CDec	Char
CInt	Class Constraint	Class Statement	CLng
CObj	Const	Continue	CSByte
CShort	CSng	CStr	CType
CUInt	CULng	CUShort	Date
Decimal	Declare	Default	Delegate
Dim	DirectCast	Do	Double
Each	Else	ElseIf	End Statement
End <keyword>	EndIf	Enum	Erase
Error	Event	Exit	False
Finally	For (in For…Next)	For Each…Next	Friend
Function	Get	GetType	GetXMLNamespace
Global	GoSub	GoTo	Handles
If	If()	Implements	Implements Statement
Imports (.NET Namespace and Type)	Imports (XML Namespace)	In	In (Generic Modifier)
Inherits	Integer	Interface	Is
IsNot	Let	Lib	Like
Long	Loop	Me	Mod
Module	Module Statement	MustInherit	MustOverride
MyBase	MyClass	Namespace	Narrowing
New Constraint	New Operator	Next	Next (in Resume)
Not	Nothing	NotInheritable	NotOverridable
Object	Of	On	Operator
Option	Optional	Or	OrElse
Out (Generic Modifier)	Overloads	Overridable	Overrides
ParamArray	Partial	Private	Property
Protected	Public	RaiseEvent	ReadOnly
ReDim	REM	RemoveHandler	Resume
Return	SByte	Select	Set
Shadows	Shared	Short	Single
Static	Step	Stop	String
Structure Constraint	Structure Statement	Sub	SyncLock
Then	Throw	To	True
Try	TryCast	TypeOf…Is	UInteger
ULong	UShort	Using	Variant
Wend	When	While	Widening
With	WithEvents	WriteOnly	Xor
#Const	#Else	#ElseIf	#End
#If	=	&	&=
*	*=	/	/=
\	\=	^	^=
+	+=	-	-=
>> Operator (Visual Basic)	>>= Operator (Visual Basic)	<<	<<=

Note

EndIf, GoSub, Variant, and Wend are retained as reserved keywords, although they are no longer used in Visual Basic. The meaning of the Let keyword has changed. Let is now used in LINQ queries. For more information, see Let Clause (Visual Basic).

Unreserved Keywords

The following keywords are not reserved, which means you can use them as names for your programming elements. However, doing this is not recommended, because it can make your code hard to read and can lead to subtle errors that can be difficult to find.

Aggregate	Ansi	Assembly	Auto
Binary	Compare	Custom	Distinct
Equals	Explicit	From	Group By
Group Join	Into	IsFalse	IsTrue
Join	Key (Visual Basic)	Mid	Off
Order By	Preserve	Skip	Skip While
Strict	Take	Take While	Text
Unicode	Until	Where	#ExternalSource
#Region

Related Topics

Title	Description
Arrays Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists language elements that are used to create, define, and use arrays.
Collection Object Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists language elements that are used for collections.
Compiler Directive Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists directives that control compiler behavior.
Control Flow Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists statements that are used for looping and controlling procedure flow.
Conversion Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists functions that are used to convert numbers, dates, times, and strings.
Data Types Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists data types. Also lists functions that are used to convert between data types and verify data types.
Dates and Times Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists language elements that are used for dates and times.
Declarations and Constants Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists statements that are used to declare variables, constants, classes, modules, and other programming elements. Also lists language elements that are used to obtain object information, handle events, and implement inheritance.
Directories and Files Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists functions that are used to control the file system and to process files.
Errors Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists language elements that are used to catch and return run-time error values.
Financial Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists functions that are used to perform financial calculations.
Input and Output Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists functions that are used to read from and write to files, manage files, and print output.
Information and Interaction Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists functions that are used to run other programs, obtain command-line arguments, manipulate COM objects, retrieve color information, and use control dialog boxes.
Math Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists functions that are used to perform trigonometric and other mathematical calculations.
My Reference (Visual Basic)	Lists the objects contained in My, a feature that provides access to frequently used methods, properties, and events of the computer on which the application is running, the current application, the application's resources, the application's settings, and so on.
Operators Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists assignment and comparison expressions and other operators.
Registry Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists functions that are used to read, save, and delete program settings.
String Manipulation Summary (Visual Basic)	Lists functions that are used to manipulate strings.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Use Reference Highlighting

Reference

Visual Basic Runtime Library Members

Keywords Compared in Various Languages