Language reference

Asc (code of first character)

Syntax

Asc(<string>)

π Asc(letter) → code (Letters)     -- "A" → 65

Description

Asc returns the numeric character code of the first character of a string — for example "A" becomes 65. It is the inverse of Chr, useful for sorting by code or for character-level computation.

Technical Description

Asc(s: STRING) → NUMBER. Returns the code point of s's first character. An empty string is an evaluation error; NULL input returns NULL. PURE, DETERMINISTIC.

Examples

First character's code:

π Asc(letter) → code (Letters)

PROJECT Asc(letter) -> code (Letters)

Bucket by leading-letter code:

σ Asc(name) >= 65 ∧ Asc(name) <= 90 (People)   -- starts A-Z

σ Asc(name) ≥ 65 ∧ Asc(name) ≤ 90 (People)   -- starts A-Z

SELECT Asc(name) >= 65 AND Asc(name) <= 90 (People)   -- starts A-Z

Limitations

Errors on an empty string. STRING argument; NULL in → NULL out. Reads only the first character.

Alternatives

Chr converts the other way (code → character).