Visual Basic Keywords

In visual basic, Keywords are the predefined set of reserved words that have special meaning for the compiler. So the keywords in visual basic cannot be used as identifiers such as variable name, class name, etc., in our applications.

Visual Basic Keyword Types

In visual basic, Keywords are differentiated into two types those are

 

  • Reserved Keywords
  • Unreserved Keywords

Visual Basic Reserved Keywords

Generally, the reserved keywords will not allow us to use them as names for programming elements such as variables, class, etc. In case, if we want to bypass this restriction, we need to define the variable name in brackets ([]).

 

The following table lists the available reserved keywords in the Visual Basic programming language.

 

AddHandler AddressOf Alias And AndAlso
As Boolean ByRef Byte ByVal
Call Case Catch CBool CByte
CChar CDate CDbl CDec Char
CInt Class 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 EndIf Enum Erase
Error Event Exit False Finally
For For Each…Next Friend Function Get
GetType GetXMLNamespace Global GoSub GoTo
Handles If Implements Imports In
Inherits Integer Interface Is IsNot
Let Lib Like Long Loop
Me Mod Module MustInherit MustOverride
MyBase MyClass Namespace Narrowing New
Next Not Nothing NotInheritable NotOverridable
Object Of On Operator Option
Optional Or OrElse Out 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 Sub SyncLock Then
Throw To True Try TryCast
TypeOf…Is UInteger ULong UShort Using
Variant Wend When While Widening
With WithEvents WriteOnly Xor #Else

Visual Basic Unreserved Keywords

In visual basic, unreserved keywords are not reserved keywords which means we can use them as names for programming elements such as variables, class, etc. However, it’s not recommended to use the keywords as programming elements because it will make your code hard to read and lead to subtle errors that can be difficult to find.

 

The following table lists unserved keywords in a visual basic programming language.

 

Aggregate Ansi Assembly Async Auto
Await Binary Compare Custom Distinct
Equals Explicit Group By Group Join Into
IsFalse IsTrue Iterator Join Key
Mid Off Order By Preserve Skip
Skip While Strict Take Take While Text
Unicode Until Where Yield #ExternalSource

Visual Basic Use Keywords as Variable Names

In case you want to use Keywords as variable names (identifiers), then we need to enclose the variable name in brackets ([]). For example, [Class] is a valid identifier but Class is not because it’s a keyword and has a special meaning for the compiler.

 

Following is the example of using the reserve keywords as a variable name by enclosing the variable name with brackets ([]) in visual basic.

 

Module Module1
  Public Class [Class]
    Public age As Integer
  End Class
  Sub Main()
    Dim p1 As [Class] = New [Class]()
    p1.age = 10
    Console.WriteLine("Age: " & p1.age)
    Console.WriteLine("Press Enter Key to Exit..")
    Console.ReadLine()
  End Sub
End Module

If you observe the above example, we used a Class keyword as a variable name ([Class]) by enclosing it with brackets ([]).

 

When we execute the above visual basic program, we will get the result below.

 

Age: 10
Press Enter Key to Exit..

This is how we can use the keywords as a variable name in visual basic based on our requirements. 

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