Any
The `Any` keyword is used as a placeholder for a type or value in various ways.
Syntax
`
Dim identifier As Any Pointer|Ptr
` or`
Declare Sub|Function identifier ( ByRef identifier As Any [ , ... ] )
` or`
Dim identifier(Any [, Any...]) As DataType
` or`
[ Declare ] { Sub | Function } proc_name ( param(Any [, Any...]) As DataType )
` or`
Dim identifier As DataType = Any
` or`
New DataType ( Any )
` or`
New(Address) DataType [count] { Any }
` or`
InStr|InStrRev ( string, Any substring )
`
Description

- Pointers:

A special pointer type called the `Any Ptr` (or "`Any Pointer`") allows pointing to any variable type. If you cast it to a `DataType Ptr`, it can be indexed or dereferenced to access the memory as an instance of `DataType`. Pointer arithmetic is allowed on an `Any Ptr`, and treats it like a `Byte Ptr`: The pointer is changed by increments of `1`.
A pure `Any Ptr` has no type checking by the compiler. It can be implicitly converted to and from other pointer types through assignment or parameter passing.
`Any` on its own is not a valid data type for a variable. Also, it is illegal to dereference an `Any Ptr` (although an `Any Ptr Ptr` may be dereferenced to produce a `Any Ptr`).
This should not be confused with `Variant`, a Visual Basic data type which can contain any type of variable. FreeBASIC does not provide native support for a `Variant` type.

- Byref parameters:

`Any` can be used in procedure prototypes (in a `Declare` statement) with `ByRef` parameters to disable the compiler checking for the correct type of the variable passed. This use of `Any` is deprecated and it only exists for compatibility with QB.

- Array dimensions:

In array declarations, `Any` can be specified in place of the array bounds in order to create a dynamic array with a certain amount of dimensions that is determined based on the number of `Any`s specified (use the syntax with `Any` is mandatory when declaring a dynamic array member inside a `Type`).
In parameter declarations, `Any` can be also specified instead of empty parenthesis in order to fix the amount of dimensions.

- Initialization:

`Any` can be used as a fake initializer to disable the default initialization of variables to `0`, leaving the variable uninitialized. This may save time in critical sections of a program. It is the program's responsibility to fill the variables with meaningful data before reading it.
Comparison to C/C++: This matches the behavior of a variable declaration without initialization value in C/C++.
Similar to `Any` initializers for variables, `Any` can also be used with the `New Expression` or `Placement New` operators in order to leave the newly created object uninitialized (only allowed with data types that do not have constructors).

- Instr/InstrRev:

`Any` can be used with `InStr` or `InStrRev` as a qualifier for the `substring` parameter, to indicate that any individual character in it may be matched.
Example
`
Declare Sub echo(ByVal x As Any Ptr) '' echo will accept any pointer type
Dim As Integer a(0 To 9) = Any '' this variable is not initialized
Dim As Double d(0 To 4)
Dim p As Any Ptr
Dim pa As Integer Ptr = @a(0)
Print "Not initialized ";
echo pa '' pass to echo a pointer to integer
Dim pd As Double Ptr = @d(0)
Print "Initialized ";
echo pd '' pass to echo a pointer to double
p = pa '' assign to p a pointer to integer
p = pd '' assign to p a pointer to double
Sleep
Sub echo (ByVal x As Any Ptr)
Dim As Integer i
For i = 0 To 39
'echo interprets the data in the pointer as bytes
Print Cast(UByte Ptr, x)[i] & " ";
Next
Print
End Sub
`
`
'Example of ANY disabling the variable type checking
Declare Sub echo (ByRef a As Any) '' ANY disables the checking for the type of data passed to the function
Dim x As Single
x = -15
echo x '' Passing a single to a function that expects an integer. The compiler does not complain!!
Sleep
Sub echo (ByRef a As Integer)
Print Hex(a)
End Sub
`
`
Dim a(Any) As Integer ' 1-dimensional dynamic array
Dim b(Any, Any) As Integer ' 2-dimensional dynamic array
Dim c(Any, Any, Any) As Integer ' 3-dimensional dynamic array
' etc.
' Further Redims or array accesses must have a matching amount of dimensions
ReDim a(0 To 1)
ReDim b(1 To 10, 2 To 5)
ReDim c(0 To 9, 0 To 5, 0 To 1)
`
Dialect Differences

- Not available in the -lang qb dialect.

Differences from QB

- Pointers and initializers are new to FreeBASIC.

See also

- `Dim`
- `Declare`