space either side of ^ operator is significant

[HelmZalee]

Type of issue

Typo

Description

Surprised to get an error entering ?2^3 into the Immediate window, I went to the Documentation where I found "the syntax is number ^ exponent". It turns out the space either side of the caret is significant, as taken very carefully, that text says. Nonetheless, it would seem worth mentioning, as at least in my experience, spaces around an operator are rarely significant. Further down, the thing is shown in a gray background (
). Hard to be certain, but it doesn't look like the spaces are part of it. They should be.

Not sure what "type" of issue this should be...

Page URL

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/visual-basic/language-reference/operators/exponentiation-operator

Content source URL

https://github.com/dotnet/docs/blob/main/docs/visual-basic/language-reference/operators/exponentiation-operator.md

Document Version Independent Id

2b3272c5-c7c5-a0f0-528d-47f37ca4e2a1

Platform Id

c1cec2d5-268b-276c-0527-6ae1f170cbbe

Article author

@KathleenDollard

Metadata

• ID: 1db6850a-fe06-894d-5f2c-96e6691ff8c5
• PlatformId: c1cec2d5-268b-276c-0527-6ae1f170cbbe
• Service: dotnet-visualbasic

Related Issues

[KathleenDollard]

@KlausLoeffelmann Looks like the requested fix is appropriate. Can you confirm?

[BillWagner]

@KathleenDollard @KlausLoeffelmann

On a related question, is whitespace significant around all operator tokens? If so, this should be a general fix

[HelmZalee]

Maybe the problem is not the documentation of ^, but rather implementation of the editor and Immediate Window. At least in the case of the three tokens *+- the vba editor inserts whitespace around those tokens in a function but not in expressions in the immediate window (where the operation is completed as expected). In the case of the caret ^ the vba editor does not insert whitespace around the token, and omitting whitespace on both sides is identified as an error: Function test(a, b) As Single test = a^b End Function If the whitespace is omitted only on the right in code, test = a ^b, the editor inserts the missing space and no error is flagged. Then there's this strange behavior in the Immediate window: [cid:1bac7f58-e7e7-45cf-9c2b-3011de0c40e2] * no space inserted around = or + * space inserted around ^ but operation not executed * unexpected dialog presented on entering ?b^a (declarations are typically unnecessary in Immediate window afaik).

…

________________________________ From: Bill Wagner Sent: Friday, April 18, 2025 6:52 AM To: dotnet/docs Cc: HelmZalee; Author Subject: Re: [dotnet/docs] space either side of ^ operator is significant (Issue #45761) [https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/493969?s=20&v=4]BillWagner left a comment (dotnet/docs#45761)<#45761 (comment)> @KathleenDollard<https://github.com/KathleenDollard> @KlausLoeffelmann<https://github.com/KlausLoeffelmann> On a related question, is whitespace significant around all operator tokens? If so, this should be a general fix — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#45761 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AJFSKD5HY36CIOOTFGAS56T22D7SPAVCNFSM6AAAAAB2Z3SWQ2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDQMJVGQ4DSOBXGU>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.