--- title: "QL VAL String Function" type: "article" slug: "ql-val-string-function-2" url: "http://localhost/article/ql-val-string-function-2/" markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/ql-val-string-function-2.md" published_at: "2025-07-27T01:42:26+00:00" modified_at: "2025-07-27T01:42:27+00:00" featured_image: url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg" excerpt: "A long time ago I saw a note by Mike de Sosa on the lack of the VAL string function on the QL. At the time Į didn’t have one, but with the recent price cuts I’ve added a QL to my “home for orphan computers\". Although I ordered one with software and QL User…" category: - name: "The Data Expansion" slug: "the-data-expansion" taxonomy: "category" url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/the-data-expansion/" post_tag: - name: "QL" slug: "ql" taxonomy: "post_tag" url: "http://localhost/tag/ql/" model: - name: "Sinclair QL" slug: "sinclair-ql" taxonomy: "model" url: "http://localhost/model/sinclair-ql/" indiv: - name: "Robert Hartung" slug: "robert-hartung" taxonomy: "indiv" url: "http://localhost/indiv/robert-hartung/" publication_r: id: 50143 title: "The Data Expansion" type: "periodical" url: "http://localhost/periodical/the-data-expansion/" authors_r: - name: "Robert Hartung" slug: "robert-hartung" taxonomy: "indiv" url: "http://localhost/indiv/robert-hartung/" volume: "5" issue: "3" issues_articles: - id: 50245 title: "The Data Expansion v5 n3" type: "issue" url: "http://localhost/issue/the-data-expansion-v5-n3/" pages: "15-16" pubdate: "March 1988" archive_link: false --- # QL VAL String Function A long time ago I saw a note by Mike de Sosa on the lack of the VAL string function on the QL. At the time Į didn’t have one, but with the recent price cuts I’ve added a QL to my “home for orphan computers”. Although I ordered one with software and QL User Guide, it came sans manual (later received), so I was digging through all my old Sinclair mags for info when I ran across Mike’s comment again. No doubt other users have found purely software approaches since then, although I have found no one published ones in my non-QL specific mags except the one Mike gave which utilizes Microdrive commands.