# 224. Ways of declaring character variables
topic: {ref}`data-types`
```{note}
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```
The code
character(5) :: a, b, c*3
declares two character variables of length 5 and one of length 3, but clearer is
character(5) :: a, b
character(3) :: c
or
character(len=5) :: a, b
character(len=3) :: c
or
character :: a*5, b*5, c*3
---