FIX: Write Statement Prints Double-Quote(") (198609)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition for Windows 4.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 4.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 4.0
This article was previously published under Q198609

SYMPTOMS

The Write statement prints out a double-quote within a string field where this should not be allowed.

CAUSE

The Write statement is intended to work with the Input statement. A string field is started and terminated with double quotes, thus placing a double quote within the field indicates the end of the field.

RESOLUTION

If you need to print out a nested double quote, you need to use the Print statement.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug has been fixed in Visual Basic 5.0.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

  1. Create a new project. Form1 is created by default.
  2. Insert the following code into the Form's code window. 
          Private Sub Form_Load()
         Open "test.txt" For Output As #1
         Write #1, "Bob " & Chr(34) & "The Man" & Chr(34) & " Bulldog"
         Close #1
      End Sub
  3. Run the project, then open the file, Test.txt, in Notepad. It contains the following:

    "Bob "The Man" Bulldog"
If you try the preceding code sample in Visual Basic 5.0 or later, it results in the following:

"Bob ""The Man"" Bulldog"


To achieve the results of Visual Basic 4.0 in Visual Basic 5.0 or later, use the following: 
   Print #1, "Bob " & Chr(34) & "The Man" & Chr(34) & " Bulldog"
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:3/7/2005
Keywords:kbBug kbFileIO kbfix kbVBp500fix KB198609
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