VBA using ubound on a multidimensional array

Question

Ubound can return the max index value of an array, but in a multidimensional array, how would I specify WHICH dimension I want the max index of?

For example

Answer 1

ubound(arr, 1) 

and

ubound(arr, 2) 

Answer 2

[This is a late answer addressing the title of the question (since that is what people would encounter when searching) rather than the specifics of OP's question which has already been answered adequately]

Ubound is a bit fragile in that it provides no way to know how many dimensions an array has. You can use error trapping to determine the full layout of an array. The following returns a collection of arrays, one for each dimension. The count property can be used to determine the number of dimensions and their lower and upper bounds can be extracted as needed:

Function Bounds(A As Variant) As Collection
    Dim C As New Collection
    Dim v As Variant, i As Long

    On Error GoTo exit_function
    i = 1
    Do While True
        v = Array(LBound(A, i), UBound(A, i))
        C.Add v
        i = i + 1
    Loop
exit_function:
    Set Bounds = C
End Function

Used like this:

Sub test()
    Dim i As Long
    Dim A(1 To 10, 1 To 5, 4 To 10) As Integer
    Dim B(1 To 5) As Variant
    Dim C As Variant
    Dim sizes As Collection

    Set sizes = Bounds(A)
    Debug.Print "A has " & sizes.Count & " dimensions:"
    For i = 1 To sizes.Count
        Debug.Print sizes(i)(0) & " to " & sizes(i)(1)
    Next i

    Set sizes = Bounds(B)
    Debug.Print vbCrLf & "B has " & sizes.Count & " dimensions:"
    For i = 1 To sizes.Count
        Debug.Print sizes(i)(0) & " to " & sizes(i)(1)
    Next i

    Set sizes = Bounds(C)
    Debug.Print vbCrLf & "C has " & sizes.Count & " dimensions:"
    For i = 1 To sizes.Count
        Debug.Print sizes(i)(0) & " to " & sizes(i)(1)
    Next i
End Sub

Output:

A has 3 dimensions:
1 to 10
1 to 5
4 to 10

B has 1 dimensions:
1 to 5

C has 0 dimensions:

Answer 3

You need to deal with the optional Rank parameter of UBound.

Dim arr(1 To 4, 1 To 3) As Variant
Debug.Print UBound(arr, 1)  '◄ returns 4
Debug.Print UBound(arr, 2)  '◄ returns 3

More at: UBound Function (Visual Basic)

Answer 4

In addition to the already excellent answers, also consider this function to retrieve both the number of dimensions and their bounds, which is similar to John's answer, but works and looks a little differently:

Function sizeOfArray(arr As Variant) As String
    Dim str As String
    Dim numDim As Integer

    numDim = NumberOfArrayDimensions(arr)
    str = "Array"

    For i = 1 To numDim
        str = str & "(" & LBound(arr, i) & " To " & UBound(arr, i)
        If Not i = numDim Then
            str = str & ", "
        Else
            str = str & ")"
        End If
    Next i

    sizeOfArray = str
End Function


Private Function NumberOfArrayDimensions(arr As Variant) As Integer
' By Chip Pearson
' http://www.cpearson.com/excel/vbaarrays.htm
Dim Ndx As Integer
Dim Res As Integer
On Error Resume Next
' Loop, increasing the dimension index Ndx, until an error occurs.
' An error will occur when Ndx exceeds the number of dimension
' in the array. Return Ndx - 1.
    Do
        Ndx = Ndx + 1
        Res = UBound(arr, Ndx)
    Loop Until Err.Number <> 0
NumberOfArrayDimensions = Ndx - 1
End Function

Example usage:

Sub arrSizeTester()
    Dim arr(1 To 2, 3 To 22, 2 To 9, 12 To 18) As Variant
    Debug.Print sizeOfArray(arr())
End Sub

And its output:

Array(1 To 2, 3 To 22, 2 To 9, 12 To 18)

Answer 5

Looping D3 ways;

Sub SearchArray()
    Dim arr(3, 2) As Variant
    arr(0, 0) = "A"
    arr(0, 1) = "1"
    arr(0, 2) = "w"

    arr(1, 0) = "B"
    arr(1, 1) = "2"
    arr(1, 2) = "x"

    arr(2, 0) = "C"
    arr(2, 1) = "3"
    arr(2, 2) = "y"

    arr(3, 0) = "D"
    arr(3, 1) = "4"
    arr(3, 2) = "z"

    Debug.Print "Loop Dimension 1"
    For i = 0 To UBound(arr, 1)
        Debug.Print "arr(" & i & ", 0) is " & arr(i, 0)
    Next i
    Debug.Print ""

    Debug.Print "Loop Dimension 2"
    For j = 0 To UBound(arr, 2)
        Debug.Print "arr(0, " & j & ") is " & arr(0, j)
    Next j
    Debug.Print ""

    Debug.Print "Loop Dimension 1 and 2"
    For i = 0 To UBound(arr, 1)
        For j = 0 To UBound(arr, 2)
            Debug.Print "arr(" & i & ", " & j & ") is " & arr(i, j)
        Next j
    Next i
    Debug.Print ""

End Sub