Delphi Basics : Length command

DelphiBasics

Length
Function

Return the number of elements in an array or string

System unit

1	function Length(const SourceString string):Integer;
2	function Length (const SourceArray array:Integer;

Description

The Length function returns either the number of characters in SourceString, or the number of elements in SourceArray.

It is often used to loop around all characters in a string or elements in an array.

Notes

Arrays start at index = 0 by default. So the length of such an array is 1 more than the highest index.

The length of a Multi-dimensional array is always that of the first subarray - the left most defined dimension.

Related commands

Copy		Create a copy of part of a string or an array
SetLength		Changes the size of a string, or the size(s) of an array
Slice		Creates a slice of an array as an Open Array parameter

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Example code : Get the length of arrays and a string

var
  openArray  : array of char;
  fixedArray : array[2..4] of Integer;
  multiArray : array[2..4, 1..9] of Integer;
  shortStr   : shortstring;
  longStr    : string;
  i          : Integer;

begin
  // Define the length of the open array
  SetLength(openArray, 17);

  // Show the length of the arrays
  ShowMessage('Length of openArray = '+IntToStr(Length(openArray)));
  ShowMessage('Length of fixedArray = '+IntToStr(Length(fixedArray)));
  ShowMessage('Length of multiArray = '+IntToStr(Length(multiArray)));

  // Assign to the strings
  shortStr := 'ABCDEFGH';
  longStr  := '12345678901234567890';
  ShowMessage('Length of shortStr = '+IntToStr(Length(shortStr)));
  ShowMessage('Length of longStr = '+IntToStr(Length(longStr)));

  // Display one letter at a time from the short string
  for i := 1 to Length(shortStr) do
    ShowMessage('Letter '+IntToStr(i)+' = '+shortStr[i]);
end;

Show full unit code

  Length of openArray = 17
  Length of fixedArray = 3
  Length of multiArray = 3
  Length of shortStr = 8
  Length of longStr = 20
  Letter 1 = A
  Letter 2 = B
  Letter 3 = C
  Letter 4 = D
  Letter 5 = E
  Letter 6 = F
  Letter 7 = G
  Letter 8 = H