Character	Character coded on 1, 2 or 4 bytes according to the management mode of character strings and the runtime platform. In Windows: in Ansi, a character is encoded on 1 byte, in Unicode, a character is encoded on 2 bytes. In Linux: in Ansi, a character is encoded on 1 byte, in Unicode, a character is encoded on 4 bytes. In iOS, in Unicode, a character is coded on 4 bytes. When a character is empty, its value corresponds to Charact(0). When a character is empty, its value corresponds to empty string. Versions 17 and later Remark: If the current configuration uses ANSI strings at runtime, the Character variables will be ANSI characters (default behavior). If the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime, the Character variables will be Unicode characters. Reminder: To change the string management in the current configuration: Open the project description window: on the "Project" tab, in the "Project" group, click "Description". In the "Project" tab, click "Description of current configuration". In the window that appears, go to the "Unicode" tab and select the desired mode. New in version 17 Remark: If the current configuration uses ANSI strings at runtime, the Character variables will be ANSI characters (default behavior). If the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime, the Character variables will be Unicode characters. Reminder: To change the string management in the current configuration: Open the project description window: on the "Project" tab, in the "Project" group, click "Description". In the "Project" tab, click "Description of current configuration". In the window that appears, go to the "Unicode" tab and select the desired mode. Remark: If the current configuration uses ANSI strings at runtime, the Character variables will be ANSI characters (default behavior). If the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime, the Character variables will be Unicode characters. Reminder: To change the string management in the current configuration: Open the project description window: on the "Project" tab, in the "Project" group, click "Description". In the "Project" tab, click "Description of current configuration". In the window that appears, go to the "Unicode" tab and select the desired mode. The Character type is not supported. It is replaced by the String type.
Versions 17 and later Ansi string New in version 17 Ansi string Ansi string	Variable-length string containing ANSI characters only. This format is required to handle: XML files RTF files PDF files functions that use UTF8 format, etc.
Unicode string	Variable-length string containing UNICODE characters only. In a configuration that uses Ansi strings at runtime, this type of string can be returned by AnsiToUnicode or by one of the functions for managing Unicode strings. For more details, see Unicode management. Versions 17 and later This type of character string is used by default if the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime. New in version 17 This type of character string is used by default if the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime. This type of character string is used by default if the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime. This type of character string is not supported. It is replaced by the String type. This type of character string is not supported.
String	Variable-length string. The "string" type is specific to the WLanguage. With this type, there is no need to declare the length of the string. It can change when the variable is used. Versions 17 and later Remark: If the current configuration uses ANSI strings at runtime, the String variables will be ANSI strings (default behavior). If the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime, the String variables will be Unicode strings. Reminder: To change the string management in the current configuration: Open the project description window: on the "Project" tab, in the "Project" group, click "Description". In the "Project" tab, click "Description of current configuration". In the window that appears, go to the "Unicode" tab and select the desired mode. New in version 17 Remark: If the current configuration uses ANSI strings at runtime, the String variables will be ANSI strings (default behavior). If the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime, the String variables will be Unicode strings. Reminder: To change the string management in the current configuration: Open the project description window: on the "Project" tab, in the "Project" group, click "Description". In the "Project" tab, click "Description of current configuration". In the window that appears, go to the "Unicode" tab and select the desired mode. Remark: If the current configuration uses ANSI strings at runtime, the String variables will be ANSI strings (default behavior). If the current configuration uses Unicode strings at runtime, the String variables will be Unicode strings. Reminder: To change the string management in the current configuration: Open the project description window: on the "Project" tab, in the "Project" group, click "Description". In the "Project" tab, click "Description of current configuration". In the window that appears, go to the "Unicode" tab and select the desired mode. This type of character string is in Unicode format.
Buffer	Binary memory area. Used to write a code that can be shared between WINDEV and WINDEV Mobile regarding the use of raw data. For more details, see the "Buffer" type. The Buffer type is not supported.

String on	Fixed-length string, ending with a binary 0 (as in C). The specified size is the maximum number of characters in the string. This type of character string is used to create compatible WINDEV/WINDEV Mobile code when calling APIs from both platforms. This type of character string is in ANSI format.
ASCIIZ string on	String ending with a binary 0 (as in C). The length of an ASCIIZ string cannot exceed 2 GB. The length given to the ASCIIZ string must be equal to its current length plus 1 (for the binary zero). The ASCIIZ String type is not supported. It is replaced by the String type.
Fixed string on	Fixed-length string. A fixed-length string cannot exceed 2 GB. The character string is completed: with 0 if the variable is not assigned yet. with space characters if necessary if the variable is assigned (similar to the "string" type of Basic). The Fixed String type is not supported. It is replaced by the String type.
Pascal string on	String preceded by a byte that specifies the length (similar to Pascal). This byte is not accessible. For example string[1] represents the first character of the string and not its length. The length of a Pascal string cannot exceed 255 characters. The length given to the Pascal string must be equal to the length of the string. The Pascal String type is not supported. It is replaced by the String type.
Unicode string on	Fixed-length string containing UNICODE characters only. This type of character string is not supported. It is replaced by the String type. This type of character string is not supported.

• The "String on" type must be used to send input/output parameters to a Windows API.
• All the advanced types (other than "String") are available for compatibility with the other programming languages (Turbo Pascal Windows, C, Visual Basic Windows, etc.) or to receive the result of a Windows API.
• WINDEV Mobile and WINDEV do not propose the same types of character strings. For more details on the different types of character strings available, see the Notes section.

Default value

• A "String" or "String on" variable that is declared but not initialized corresponds to an empty string ("").
• A "Buffer" variable that is declared but not initialized is empty.
• A "Buffer on" variable that is declared but not initialized is filled with 0.

Passing a character string as a parameter to a procedure

Using quotes in a character string