Error using Clng function in vba to convert string to long data type

I have this string for example

dim junk1 as string
dim junk2 as long


junk1 = ""
junk2=clng(junk1)

when i run this i get a run time error for type mismatch

any ideas? is it because the string is empty?

Hi welchs101,

The short answer is "you can't do that". You are trying to change a string into a number. You should get the same answer if you wanted to know the numeric value of "Bob". You have a Type of Variable mismatch.

The VBA editor or runtime has no idea how to deal with this and gives you back an error.

Use Val, it is a super robust conversion function

Val("") = 0
Val("smith") = 0
Val("123cat") = 123
Val("3.14159")=3.14259
Val("-23.8") = -23.8
Val("5/23/2001") = 5

If you definatly need a data type long

use CLng(Val(someString)) to buffer against errors.