Excel Char Function to convert ASCII value to character

What is Excel Char Function?

Excel Char Function converts ASCII value to a character. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) uses 8-bit code units, an old encoding system which stores mainly numbers, lowercase letters a to z, uppercase letters A to Z, basic punctuation symbols, control codes. Many old systems still use this encoding system. 8 bit means the computer memory uses “8” digits with 1 and 0 combination (binary) to represent a character, 8 bits memory is equal to 1 byte.

Refer to the below table, Excel Char Function will convert the “Dec” value to “Char” value.

Dec	Hex	Oct	Char	Description
0	0	000		null
1	1	001		start of heading
2	2	002		start of text
3	3	003		end of text
4	4	004		end of transmission
5	5	005		enquiry
6	6	006		acknowledge
7	7	007		bell
8	8	010		backspace
9	9	011		horizontal tab
10	A	012		new line
11	B	013		vertical tab
12	C	014		new page
13	D	015		carriage return
14	E	016		shift out
15	F	017		shift in
16	10	020		data link escape
17	11	021		device control 1
18	12	022		device control 2
19	13	023		device control 3
20	14	024		device control 4
21	15	025		negative acknowledge
22	16	026		synchronous idle
23	17	027		end of trans. block
24	18	030		cancel
25	19	031		end of medium
26	1A	032		substitute
27	1B	033		escape
28	1C	034		file separator
29	1D	035		group separator
30	1E	036		record separator
31	1F	037		unit separator
32	20	040		space
33	21	041	!
34	22	042	“
35	23	043	#
36	24	044	$
37	25	045	%
38	26	046	&
39	27	047	‘
40	28	050	(
41	29	051	)
42	2A	052	*
43	2B	053	+
44	2C	054	,
45	2D	055	–
46	2E	056	.
47	2F	057	/
48	30	060	0
49	31	061	1
50	32	062	2
51	33	063	3
52	34	064	4
53	35	065	5
54	36	066	6
55	37	067	7
56	38	070	8
57	39	071	9
58	3A	072	:
59	3B	073	;
60	3C	074	<
61	3D	075	=
62	3E	076	>
63	3F	077	?
64	40	100	@
65	41	101	A
66	42	102	B
67	43	103	C
68	44	104	D
69	45	105	E
70	46	106	F
71	47	107	G
72	48	110	H
73	49	111	I
74	4A	112	J
75	4B	113	K
76	4C	114	L
77	4D	115	M
78	4E	116	N
79	4F	117	O
80	50	120	P
81	51	121	Q
82	52	122	R
83	53	123	S
84	54	124	T
85	55	125	U
86	56	126	V
87	57	127	W
88	58	130	X
89	59	131	Y
90	5A	132	Z
91	5B	133	[
92	5C	134	\
93	5D	135	]
94	5E	136	^
95	5F	137	_
96	60	140	`
97	61	141	a
98	62	142	b
99	63	143	c
100	64	144	d
101	65	145	e
102	66	146	f
103	67	147	g
104	68	150	h
105	69	151	i
106	6A	152	j
107	6B	153	k
108	6C	154	l
109	6D	155	m
110	6E	156	n
111	6F	157	o
112	70	160	p
113	71	161	q
114	72	162	r
115	73	163	s
116	74	164	t
117	75	165	u
118	76	166	v
119	77	167	w
120	78	170	x
121	79	171	y
122	7A	172	z
123	7B	173	{
124	7C	174	|
125	7D	175	}
126	7E	176	~
127	7F	177	DEL

Extended Character Set

Dec	Hex	Unicode	Char	Name
128	80	U+20AC	€	Euro Sign
129	81			Undefined
130	82	U+201A	‚	Single Low-9 Quotation Mark
131	83	U+0192	ƒ	Latin Small Letter F With Hook
132	84	U+201E	„	Double Low-9 Quotation Mark
133	85	U+2026	…	Horizontal Ellipsis
134	86	U+2020	†	Dagger
135	87	U+2021	‡	Double Dagger
136	88	U+02C6	ˆ	Modifier Letter Circumflex Accent
137	89	U+2030	‰	Per Mille Sign
138	8A	U+0160	Š	Latin Capital Letter S With Caron
139	8B	U+2039	‹	Single Left-pointing Angle Quotation Mark
140	8C	U+0152	Œ	Latin Capital Ligature Oe
141	8D			Undefined
142	8E	U+017D	Ž	Latin Capital Letter Z With Caron
143	8F			Undefined
144	90			Undefined
145	91	U+2018	‘	Left Single Quotation Mark
146	92	U+2019	’	Right Single Quotation Mark
147	93	U+201C	“	Left Double Quotation Mark
148	94	U+201D	”	Right Double Quotation Mark
149	95	U+2022	•	Bullet
150	96	U+2013	–	En Dash
151	97	U+2014	—	Em Dash
152	98	U+02DC	˜	Small Tilde
153	99	U+2122	™	Trade Mark Sign
154	9A	U+0161	š	Latin Small Letter S With Caron
155	9B	U+203A	›	Single Right-pointing Angle Quotation Mark
156	9C	U+0153	œ	Latin Small Ligature Oe
157	9D			Undefined
158	9E	U+017E	ž	Latin Small Letter Z With Caron
159	9F	U+0178	Ÿ	Latin Capital Letter Y With Diaeresis
160	A0	U+00A0		No-break Space
161	A1	U+00A1	¡	Inverted Exclamation Mark
162	A2	U+00A2	¢	Cent Sign
163	A3	U+00A3	£	Pound Sign
164	A4	U+00A4	¤	Currency Sign
165	A5	U+00A5	¥	Yen Sign
166	A6	U+00A6	¦	Broken Bar
167	A7	U+00A7	§	Section Sign
168	A8	U+00A8	¨	Diaeresis
169	A9	U+00A9	©	Copyright Sign
170	AA	U+00AA	ª	Feminine Ordinal Indicator
171	AB	U+00AB	«	Left-pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark
172	AC	U+00AC	¬	Not Sign
173	AD	U+00AD	­	Soft Hyphen
174	AE	U+00AE	®	Registered Sign
175	AF	U+00AF	¯	Macron
176	B0	U+00B0	°	Degree Sign
177	B1	U+00B1	±	Plus-minus Sign
178	B2	U+00B2	²	Superscript Two
179	B3	U+00B3	³	Superscript Three
180	B4	U+00B4	´	Acute Accent
181	B5	U+00B5	µ	Micro Sign
182	B6	U+00B6	¶	Pilcrow Sign
183	B7	U+00B7	·	Middle Dot
184	B8	U+00B8	¸	Cedilla
185	B9	U+00B9	¹	Superscript One
186	BA	U+00BA	º	Masculine Ordinal Indicator
187	BB	U+00BB	»	Right-pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark
188	BC	U+00BC	¼	Vulgar Fraction One Quarter
189	BD	U+00BD	½	Vulgar Fraction One Half
190	BE	U+00BE	¾	Vulgar Fraction Three Quarters
191	BF	U+00BF	¿	Inverted Question Mark
192	C0	U+00C0	À	Latin Capital Letter A With Grave
193	C1	U+00C1	Á	Latin Capital Letter A With Acute
194	C2	U+00C2	Â	Latin Capital Letter A With Circumflex
195	C3	U+00C3	Ã	Latin Capital Letter A With Tilde
196	C4	U+00C4	Ä	Latin Capital Letter A With Diaeresis
197	C5	U+00C5	Å	Latin Capital Letter A With Ring Above
198	C6	U+00C6	Æ	Latin Capital Ligature Ae
199	C7	U+00C7	Ç	Latin Capital Letter C With Cedilla
200	C8	U+00C8	È	Latin Capital Letter E With Grave
201	C9	U+00C9	É	Latin Capital Letter E With Acute
202	CA	U+00CA	Ê	Latin Capital Letter E With Circumflex
203	CB	U+00CB	Ë	Latin Capital Letter E With Diaeresis
204	CC	U+00CC	Ì	Latin Capital Letter I With Grave
205	CD	U+00CD	Í	Latin Capital Letter I With Acute
206	CE	U+00CE	Î	Latin Capital Letter I With Circumflex
207	CF	U+00CF	Ï	Latin Capital Letter I With Diaeresis
208	D0	U+00D0	Ð	Latin Capital Letter Eth
209	D1	U+00D1	Ñ	Latin Capital Letter N With Tilde
210	D2	U+00D2	Ò	Latin Capital Letter O With Grave
211	D3	U+00D3	Ó	Latin Capital Letter O With Acute
212	D4	U+00D4	Ô	Latin Capital Letter O With Circumflex
213	D5	U+00D5	Õ	Latin Capital Letter O With Tilde
214	D6	U+00D6	Ö	Latin Capital Letter O With Diaeresis
215	D7	U+00D7	×	Multiplication Sign
216	D8	U+00D8	Ø	Latin Capital Letter O With Stroke
217	D9	U+00D9	Ù	Latin Capital Letter U With Grave
218	DA	U+00DA	Ú	Latin Capital Letter U With Acute
219	DB	U+00DB	Û	Latin Capital Letter U With Circumflex
220	DC	U+00DC	Ü	Latin Capital Letter U With Diaeresis
221	DD	U+00DD	Ý	Latin Capital Letter Y With Acute
222	DE	U+00DE	Þ	Latin Capital Letter Thorn
223	DF	U+00DF	ß	Latin Small Letter Sharp S
224	E0	U+00E0	à	Latin Small Letter A With Grave
225	E1	U+00E1	á	Latin Small Letter A With Acute
226	E2	U+00E2	â	Latin Small Letter A With Circumflex
227	E3	U+00E3	ã	Latin Small Letter A With Tilde
228	E4	U+00E4	ä	Latin Small Letter A With Diaeresis
229	E5	U+00E5	å	Latin Small Letter A With Ring Above
230	E6	U+00E6	æ	Latin Small Ligature Ae
231	E7	U+00E7	ç	Latin Small Letter C With Cedilla
232	E8	U+00E8	è	Latin Small Letter E With Grave
233	E9	U+00E9	é	Latin Small Letter E With Acute
234	EA	U+00EA	ê	Latin Small Letter E With Circumflex
235	EB	U+00EB	ë	Latin Small Letter E With Diaeresis
236	EC	U+00EC	ì	Latin Small Letter I With Grave
237	ED	U+00ED	í	Latin Small Letter I With Acute
238	EE	U+00EE	î	Latin Small Letter I With Circumflex
239	EF	U+00EF	ï	Latin Small Letter I With Diaeresis
240	F0	U+00F0	ð	Latin Small Letter Eth
241	F1	U+00F1	ñ	Latin Small Letter N With Tilde
242	F2	U+00F2	ò	Latin Small Letter O With Grave
243	F3	U+00F3	ó	Latin Small Letter O With Acute
244	F4	U+00F4	ô	Latin Small Letter O With Circumflex
245	F5	U+00F5	õ	Latin Small Letter O With Tilde
246	F6	U+00F6	ö	Latin Small Letter O With Diaeresis
247	F7	U+00F7	÷	Division Sign
248	F8	U+00F8	ø	Latin Small Letter O With Stroke
249	F9	U+00F9	ù	Latin Small Letter U With Grave
250	FA	U+00FA	ú	Latin Small Letter U With Acute
251	FB	U+00FB	û	Latin Small Letter U With Circumflex
252	FC	U+00FC	ü	Latin Small Letter U With Diaeresis
253	FD	U+00FD	ý	Latin Small Letter Y With Acute
254	FE	U+00FE	þ	Latin Small Letter Thorn
255	FF	U+00FF	ÿ	Latin Small Letter Y With Diaeresis

Why do you need Excel Char Function?

1. To import special characters. However, Windows may not be able to show those characters.

2. Start a new line in a Cell with Char(10) in a formula (must need to set Wrap Text first)

Syntax of Excel Char Function

CHAR( ascii_value )

ascii_value is the ASCII value used to retrieve the character.

Note that Char Function also exists in VBA but the name is Chr. You can convert the character back into ASCII value using Code Function in worksheet / ASC Function in VBA

Example of Excel Char Function

Formula	Result	Explanation
=Char(65)	A
=Char(90)	Z
=”line one” & Char(10) & “line two”	line one line two	Start a new line with Char(10)
=SUBSTITUTE(“line one,line two”,”,”,CHAR(10))	line one line two	Replace comma with new line

Outbound References

http://www.techonthenet.com/excel/formulas/char.php