Reversing a string and testing for a palindrome

This lesson covers reversing a string and testing for a palindrome in VB.NET, with the aim of understanding the basics of string handling.

StrReverse() reverses the order of the characters in a string. A string that reads the same forwards and backwards is a palindrome, which you test by comparing the original with the reversed version.

In the sample code, an IsPalindrome() function reverses the string with StrReverse(s) and compares it with the original s. "racecar" reads the same reversed and is judged a palindrome; "hello" is not.

A common early stumble is not allowing for whitespace, punctuation, or case. A strict palindrome test sometimes needs preprocessing to remove unwanted characters and unify the case first.

Reversal and palindrome checks rarely come up directly in practice, but they are a classic subject for practising how strings are handled character by character.

📖 Reference code

Function IsPalindrome(s As String) As Boolean
    Dim reversed As String = StrReverse(s)
    Return s = reversed
End Function

Console.WriteLine(IsPalindrome("racecar"))
Console.WriteLine(IsPalindrome("hello"))

✍️ Your code

Type your code, then press "Run"

🧪 This site can't compile or run VB.NET directly, so it checks on the spot whether what you typed matches the reference code (scoring happens entirely in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere).