SelText Property

The SelText property returns a string containing the selected text. If no text is selected, the SelText property contains a Null value. Read/write String.

expression   Required. An expression that returns one of the objects in the Applies To list.

Remarks

The SelText property uses a string expression that contains the text selected in the control. If the control contains selected text when this property is set, the selected text is replaced by the new SelText setting.

To set or return this property for a control, the control must have the focus. To move the focus to a control, use the SetFocus method.

Example

The following example uses two event procedures to search for text specified by a user. The text to search is set in the form's Load event procedure. The Click event procedure for the Find button (which the user clicks to start the search) prompts the user for the text to search for and selects the text in the text box if the search is successful.

Sub Form_Load()
    Dim ctlTextToSearch As Control
    Set ctlTextToSearch = Forms!Form1!TextBox1
    ctlTextToSearch.SetFocus      ' SetFocus to text box.
    ctlTextToSearch.SelText = "This company places large orders " _
        & "twice a year for garlic, oregano, chilies and cumin."
End Sub

Sub Find_Click()
    Dim strSearch As String, intWhere As Integer
    Dim ctlTextToSearch As Control
    ' Get search string from user.
    With Me!Textbox1
        strSearch = InputBox("Enter text to find:")
        ' Find string in text.
        intWhere = InStr(.Value, strSearch)
        If intWhere Then
            ' If found.
            .SetFocus
            .SelStart = intWhere - 1
            .SelLength = Len(strSearch)
        Else
            ' Notify user.
            MsgBox "String not found."
        End If
    End With
End Sub